Experience Summary
While studying physics at the University of Texas, I was exposed to a variety of educational experiences. My course work provided me with extensive study in mathematics and in physics courses designed for science majors. Also, I worked in the Lecture Demonstrations office, which provided working demonstration props for use in lower division physics courses taught to students of both science and non-science backgrounds. In addition, I was employed by the UT Learning Center as a tutor for mathematics and physics which honed my skills as teacher as well as student. These skills were then put to work as both independent tutor and as a teacher of mathematics at the secondary level.
Teaching Style
Teaching to me is a matter of discovering those small differences in learning style that students may not recognize and having the flexibility to offer a variety of paths to understanding. The goal is conveyance of a particular skill set through whatever means available willingness to offer different approaches of teaching tailored to a particular student's strengths and weaknesses. My goal is to ease students into unfamiliar territories with the expectation of success. I find this especially true with mathematics as many are frustrated with rote teaching mechanisms thus fostering an expectation of failure. Exploring different teaching mechanisms and allowing for various learning styles has been my most effective teaching approach.