Experience Summary
I began tutoring after my first semester of College at Lambuth University. I was an “A” student in Calculus, so I began assisting other students with their homework. As a result, my Calculus professor signed me up for Lambuth’s Peer Tutoring Program and I was paid an hourly wage for tutoring my peers. By the fall of my sophomore year, I was tutoring up to 8 students in mathematics. After college I started volunteering my tutoring services in my church and the community. A few years later, I started my own private tutoring service and began tutoring students in various subjects, including reading, mathematics, science and social studies. I have also tutored students in Spanish. In 2005, I began volunteering my tutoring services through Volunteer Memphis’ MCS Tutoring Program. Through this program, I currently tutor mathematics, primarily in the middle schools and occasionally in the high schools.
Teaching Style
Math has always been my favorite subject to tutor because I am a problem-solver, by nature. Whenever one of my students has difficulty understanding a math problem, I take it from a different approach and once they understand the concept and that “light-bulb comes on,” I get over-whelmed with excitement….I’ve gotten through to them! Nevertheless, there are times when you think you have accomplished your goal and you later find out that the student did not retain the information previously learned. I found, through my experience, that this can be avoided by positive reinforcement. Some students do not retain information as well as others, so I love the use of math tricks in teaching the multiplication tables and acronyms, such as “PLEASE EXCUSE MY DEAR AUNT SALLY” to help students recall a process. These methods have worked well for my students and this is evident in their grades.