Experience Summary
I have been tutoring students in all levels of mathematics since I was a freshman in high school. I have tutored privately since I entered college, and even tutored in a paid position as an undergraduate in an on campus Math Help Lab. As a graduate student, I taught many classes to undergraduate including Elementary and Intermediate Algebra, Business Math, and Precalculus. I was hired as a contractor to teach active military and their families a refresher math course to help them to prepare to return to college. All of these experiences have helped me to discover many different ways to approach teaching and to customize my technique to the needs of my students.
Teaching Style
Instructor vs. student. I love giving the student a problem to see if he/she can think his/her way through it after we have discussed the proper method to use to solve the problem. I find that if students are just simply told how to do things and shown, but never required to think about it for themselves, then the students will not be able to understand how to do the problems or think for themselves. It is important to allow the students time to put the effort into thinking about a problem without having someone tell them what to think at every step.
Other Comments
I am severely dyslexic. I have had a lot of formal training to help overcome this learning disability, but I will never "cure" it. I believe it is because of this learning disability that I am uniquely qualified to help students that are likewise impaired. I understand how students with certain learning disabilities tend to think and can customize my teaching technique to fit their ideal learning method(s).