Teaching Style
If you watch me closely during our sessions, you can see me secretly paying keen attention to you and how you learn best. For example, you might say, "It LOOKS like they want me to factor here." And I'll think, "Aha! LOOKS. Maybe you're a visual learner and like to SEE things explained and SEE examples. (About 80% of students are visual learners.) On the other hand, you might say, "It sounds like they want me to factor here." And I'll think, "Aha! sounds. Maybe you like to HEAR things explained, and you're a keen listener and like to hear things described clearly and specifically. Or maybe you'll say, "I FEEL like they want me to factor here" (as you tap the problem with your pencil). And I'll think, "Aha! FEEL. Maybe you learn by intuition and need to just jump in and work a problem or two with me step-by-step and discover the pattern of what's going on and pick up the FEEL of it. So...See, I understand. Listen, I understand. If you feel what I'm saying, I get it. I know how to get the point across based on how you learn. I am certified by the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA), and I know the psychology of how people learn. I may cost a little more, but I am attuned to how you learn, and we will get much more done, because I can tell when you're not really understanding something, and I'm not going to let you get away with it. I will ensure your success.
I understand what it feels like not to understand a subject very well. For example, I wasn't good at math in high school. It wasn't until college that I got a really outstanding teacher who knew how to teach so that everyone got it. And from then on, math was easy for me. And now things are about to get easier for you, too. When a tutor first meets a student, the tutor has to estimate the student's background knowledge of a subject and not overteach or underteach. Don't worry. I will very quickly have a feel for what you know and what you don't…and what you most urgently need to know to catch up.
If you're overwhelmed and don't know where to begin, you can just show up at our first session with just the basics, like blank paper and a pencil or laptop with your programming language, and we'll get started.
But if you really want your grade to increase fast, then bring everything important to your first session so I can get a sense of how your instructor determines your grades: textbook, laptop computer, and notebook (syllabus, assignment list, notes, homework, labs, projects, and quizzes & tests especially), and appropriate helpful materials (calculator, ruler, protractor, compass, colored pencils).
Things are about to get so much better for you...But let's get started right away, because the sooner you start, the more you will improve, and the better your final grade will be, but the longer you wait, the worse your problem will get, and the harder it will be to catch up."
| Algebra |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Algebra I concepts. Particularly good at showing you how to solve equations and making word problems easy. |
| Algebra I |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Algebra I concepts. Particularly good at showing you how to solve equations and making word problems easy. |
| Algebra II |
 This is one of my top subjects!
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Algebra II concepts. Particularly good at making quadratic equations and word problems easy. |
| Algebra III |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Algebra III concepts. Particularly good at making trigonometric identity proofs easy. |
| ASVAB |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all ASVAB math concepts and most general knowledge concepts. Particularly good at emphasizing the important concepts tested over and over again. I work from the Kaplan prep book, the best prep book on the market, and I have access to several official practice ASVAB tests administered by the recruiters. |
| Bio Chemistry |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Biochemistry concepts. Particularly good at breaking down the chemical compounds and reactions that occur in living organisms: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Specialty subject fields: animal biochemistry, plant biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, metabolism, immunology, genetics, enzymology. |
| Biology |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Biology concepts. Particularly good at breaking down the main concepts and making them understandable:order, sensitivity or response to stimuli, reproduction, adaptation, growth and development, regulation, homeostasis, energy processing. |
| Calculus I |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Calculus I concepts. Very good at breaking down the concepts and making them easy, starting with the difference quotient and how it is related to the derivative, how the derivative is related to the slope of the line tangent to a function at a point, how to find the equation of a line tangent to a function at a point, finding derivatives of all types of functions from the easy to the difficult, practical applications such as revenue, cost, profit, marginal revenue, marginal cost, elasticity of demand, etc., relative and absolute mins and maxes, optimization, related rates, and other concepts. |
| Calculus II |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Calculus II concepts. Particularly good at breaking down the complex concepts and making them easy, including Riemann sums and trapezoidal sums to calculate the area under the curve, The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, integration rules for all functions for all functions using indefinite integrals, evaluating definite integrals, volumes generated by spinning a function over an interval about the x-axis or y-axis using the disc, washer, and/or shell methods, applications of the definite integral, indeterminate forms and L'Hôpital's Rule, improper integrals, mathematical modeling with differential equations, sequences, infinite series, convergence or divergence of a series, and other concepts. |
| Chemistry |
This is one of my top subjects!
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all General Chemistry I & II concepts. Particularly good at emphasizing the important concepts of General Chemistry I and II that keep coming back to haunt you over and over again in future chapters if you don't get them right the first time: dimensional analysis (unit chaining and canceling), the key element groups and their properties (alkali metals, halogens, etc.), how to name chemical compounds and acids, gas laws, energy and heats (of formation, etc.), balancing chemical equations, solubility, oxidation-reduction reactions, using Lewis structures to determine polarity, intermolecular forces, and especially, ICE tables. Everything is connected in chemistry, and I will make sure you don't get away with not knowing something really important you should have already learned when you're halfway through the course. |
| College Algebra |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all College Algebra concepts. Particularly good at making problem-solving and word problems easy. |
| Computer Programming |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I am an expert at Computer Programming. I know several programming languages, both interpreted and compiled (including assembly language), as well as almost all of the basic and advanced algorithms. From control structures and loops, methods/procedures, sorting, stacks and queues, arrays and lists, objects, object extensibility, pass by value or reference, writing to and reading from standard input and output devices like keyboard, screen, and files, you name it. I've seen the concept before. Even if you're working with a programming language I haven't worked with before, I can still help you, because a programming language is just a set of rules, structures, a grammar, and a syntax. It is easy to learn any programming language. Your first hour of tutoring is free (even if you don't continue) so that you can see how much tutoring is really going to help you. So, let's get started soon! |
| Creative Writing |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I specialize in Creative Writing tutoring and have been tutoring it for over 20 years now. I am very good at breaking down the process and making it easy to understand. First, I'll show you how to write a dynamite opening that grabs the reader's attention: "Jesus!" Fubar exclaimed as he recoiled, trembling in horror. "I didn't know the gun was loaded." Then, I'll show you how to write to avoid wordiness like Hemingway, to be more descriptive, and to keep focus and relevance! As Dr. Seuss says, "The writer who breeds / More words than he needs / Is making a chore / For the reader (who reads)…" I promise that your writing will flow naturally and that you will get top grades. Your reader won't want to put your story or poem down once he or she starts reading! I'll also show you how to get more length out of your writing the right way -- by being more descriptive. For example, many students make plain, simple, undescriptive statements like "The narrator thought about the events in his life." Pretty dry, right? Something like that may vaguely suggest to the reader that a chapter in the narrator's life is ending, or that the narrator's life is about to end. It's a bit more descriptive if we introduce some imagery: "The narrator watched the sunset as he thought about the significant events in his life." Now the sunset symbolizes that the sun is going down on his life and that he doesn't have much time left. But we can still be much more descriptive with our word choices. Adverbs describe verbs, and adjectives describe nouns, so we can skillfully choose words to convey regret and anger and get the point across for the dying narrator by describing the key nouns and verbs in the sentence: "The narrator wistfully watched the crimson sunset as he thought about the significant events in his life." The pictures we paint are worth a thousand words in Creative Writing. There are words for all writing occasions, and I will help you discover how to convey just the right tone and say just what you want. I don't just write your papers for you -- we do that together -- and you learn how to write for yourself -- a skill that serves you over and over in the years to come. Your first hour of tutoring with me is free (even if you don't continue) so you can see how much tutoring is really going to help you. |
| Elementary Grammar |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I am an expert at grammar, as both of my grandfathers were college professors. (My paternal grandfather taught at Harvard.) I have funny examples to make the boring subject of grammar fun. From a vague antecedent to a comma splice, I can point out examples of bad grammar in your speaking or writing, or make up examples, and explain what the mistakes are called and what the correct grammatical form is. Your first hour of tutoring is free (even if you don't continue) so you can see how much tutoring is really going to help you. So, let's get started soon! |
| Elementary Math |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I am an expert at tutoring Elementary Math. I have been tutoring Elementary Math for over 20 years, and I know how to break down the concepts and make them easy. From times tables to fractions, I have easy methods that students relate to. For some students, especially students with certain learning disabilities, times tables are very hard to learn. If you're one of them, don't worry...You'll know your times tables soon! Your first hour of tutoring is free (even if you don't continue) so you can see how much tutoring is really going to help you. So, let's get started soon! |
| French |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| Experienced French tutor. Attended a French-speaking school for three years. Several years of experience speaking, reading, writing, and tutoring the French language. |
| Geometry |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Geometry concepts. Particularly good at breaking down the concepts and building on the concepts in order: points, lines, planes, angles, parallel lines, triangles, similarity, trigonometry, quadrilaterals, transformations, circles and area. Also good at explaining proofs and what constitutes a correct proof and showing students common errors students make in attempting proofs. |
| German |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| Experienced German tutor. Attended a German-speaking school for three years. Several years of experience speaking, reading, writing, and tutoring the German language. |
| Grammar |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all grammatical concepts. To do good for people and help them with their grammar, you have to do well in grammar. If you are having difficulty with your grammar, I will teach you easy ways to figure out the correct grammar using what you already know. Grammar can be easy. |
| Language Arts |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I have been tutoring Language Arts at the middle school and high school levels for over 20 years. I am very good at breaking down the concepts and making them easy to understand. The subject areas of reading, writing, listening, speaking, and visual representation will be easy for you the way I present them. For example, if you are not a good listener, I have special exercises to help you pay attention and listen better. Furthermore, I teach you how to sound out your spelling, not to memorize...the old way, the way they used to do it back in the day when people read and spelled well. You will impress your teachers and classmates so much, and reading will get easy for you. Then I will teach you good writing style and habits to make your writing flow well and sound good. And if you've ever wanted to learn cursive, now's the time! Good speaking and grammar are also important, and public speaking, if your teacher requires it. Finally, interpreting the meaning of visual representations of ideas and being able to represent ideas visually is sometimes important in a Language Arts class. Your first hour of tutoring is free with me (even if you don't continue) so you will see how much tutoring is going to help you. |
| Logic |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Logic concepts. Particularly good at explaining logic from a Discrete Math perspective, building student fluency in logic starting with truth tables and propositional statements, logical connectives AND and OR and negation NOT, commutative, associative and distributive laws, as well as other laws which can be useful such as the idempotent law, rules of inference for proofs such as modus ponens, modus tollens, etc., and methods of proof, as well as logical fallacies. HOT TIP: How to reverse engineer a proof when you have no idea what you're doing on a test and work backward from the conclusion you're trying to prove. Instead of going forward from the start and saying, "If this is true, then this next thing must be true, and this next thing must be true, ..." instead work backward and say, "If this conclusion is true, then this previous thing MUST HAVE BEEN true, and this previous thing MUST HAVE BEEN true..." I will teach you all the dirty (but legal) tricks to survive hard tests. |
| Math |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at tutoring all areas of math in general. Over twenty years' worth of experience tutoring at the college, high school, and middle school levels. Particularly good at simplifying the concepts and breaking them down in easy ways. |
| Microsoft Excel |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I have been tutoring Excel for over 20 years and am very good at breaking down the concepts and making them easy to understand. I'll show you all the shortcuts and make your work easy, whether you prefer to work with the mouse or the more time-saving keyboard shortcuts available. And, if you need help in automation, I can show you how easy that is, too. (For example, if you do the same steps or type the same thing over and over, we can shorten that to just one keystroke or mouse click.) I can also help you with advanced programming like sending keystrokes or mouse clicks to another screen or automatically reading information that changes off of a website, like looking up a stock price and doing a calculation based on it, or looking up the price of something on Amazon and doing a calculation on it. Or Excel can automatically open every file in a directory and perform the same actions on it, like change something, or insert a company logo, etc. I work over Zoom, where we can share each other's screens in real time so we can be very clear and specific about what to do. With me, your first hour of tutoring is free (even if you don't continue) so you can see how much tutoring is going to help you. So, let's get started soon! |
| Microsoft Office |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I have been tutoring Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, Access) for over 20 years and am very good at breaking down the concepts and making them easy to understand. I'll show you all the shortcuts and make your work easy, whether you prefer to work with the mouse or the more time-saving keyboard shortcuts available. And, if you need help in automation, I can show you how easy that is, too. (For example, if you do the same steps or type the same thing over and over, we can shorten that to just one keystroke or mouse click.) I can also help you with advanced programming like sending keystrokes or mouse clicks to another screen or automatically reading information that changes off of a website, like looking up a stock price and doing something with it, like inserting specific text if the price is above a certain value or inserting something different if the price is below a certain value. Or Word or Excel can automatically open every file in a directory and perform the same actions on it, like change some text, or insert a company logo, etc. In Word, I'll show you all the things you know Word can do that WordPerfect could but you can't figure out how. I'll show you all the time-saving things, like trigger abbreviations where you type sy for "Sincerely yours," or anything else you repeatedly type that you would like to blast out with a couple of keystrokes. You can even type a whole paragraph with a couple of keystrokes. I'll show you how to fit everything on one page when one line runs over onto the next page. And how to set up booklet printing. All the things that are so easy to do if the help screen were better. In Excel, I'll teach you all the time-saving shortcuts, too. And all the things people get frustrated with and can't figure out how to work around. In PowerPoint, I'll teach you how to make PROFESSIONAL LOOKING presentations that look like they came from a company. Get rid of all those words spell-check underlines in red, cluttering your presentation. And if you're flooded with email, I'll show you how Outlook can automatically respond to people with different messages for different people, pretending to be you, or Outlook can filter your mail based on who it's from or something it says in the subject or body of the email (like "Low-Priced Car Warranty"), or Outlook can play a special sound and do something special with your mail if it's from a VIP or priority person (like your boss or significant other). I can show you how to do desktop publishing and make brochures and trifolds with Publisher. And I can show you how to make simple databases to keep track of customers or inventory or things you want to be able to search quickly based on criteria (lookup customers by last name, lookup customers by ZIP code, lookup customers who spent over $1000, etc.). I work over Zoom, where we can share each other's screens in real time so we can be very clear and specific about what to do. With me, your first hour of tutoring is free (even if you don't continue) so you can see how much tutoring is going to help you. So, let's get started soon! |
| Organic Chemistry |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Organic Chemistry concepts. Partcularly good at breaking down the main concepts of structure and bonding, resonance, acid-base chemistry, alkanes, cycloalkanes, functional groups, stereochemistry, substitution and elimination reactions, alkenes and alkynes, alcohols, ethers, epoxides, and sulfides, as well as the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-containing compounds, including not only hydrocarbons but also compounds with any number of other elements, including hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, halogens, phosphorus, silicon, and sulfur. |
| Physics |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Calculus-Based Physics and General (Algebra-Based) Physics. Particularly good at breaking down the main concepts: Measurement and the Language of Physics, Kinematics (The Physics of Motion), Dynamics (Forces and Motion), Impulse and Momentum, Conservation of Energy, Periodic and Simple Harmonic Motion, Heat and Temperature, Wave Energy, "Static" Electricity, Electricity and Electrical Energy, Magnetism and Magnetic Force, Electromagnetism and Electromagnets, Nature and Behavior of Light, Particles and Interactions and the Standard Model, Astronomy, Physics and Physical Science, History and Philosophy of Physics. |
| Poetry |
Proficiency: Expert
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| I am an expert poetry writer, and I will show you the online tools to help you write poetry much more easily. Poetry is just ideas converted into images and words, and in some forms of poetry, the words must rhyme perfectly. For some people, it is hard to tell a story while rhyming. I will show you how to get away from describing the sentences you want to say and thinking in pictures and ideas and key words and connecting them based on a rhyming word you find. It's much easier than you think! |
| Praxis Exam |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Experienced Praxis Math tutor. Expert at teaching how to use the College Board's official calculator off their own website to help you work smart, not hard...the key to high scores. Additionally, I teach all the underlying concepts that Praxis takers find super hard to keep straight, like combinations and permutations, how to tell the difference, and when to use each one (on the College Board's calculator to save time!)...statistics (all on the calculator to make it easy). Again, don't waste a lot of time learning the "right way" if what you need right away is a high score on the Math Praxis! We can always go back and learn the concepts you need after you get the score you want. Life is about to get so much better for you if you're stressing out over the Praxis! |
| Pre-Algebra |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Pre-Algebra concepts. Particularly good at teaching proper ways to work with fractions and exponents. |
| Pre-Calculus |
This is one of my top subjects!
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Pre-Calculus concepts. Particularly good at strongly emphasizing the concepts that are critically important to calculus (negative exponents, fractional exponents, exponent laws in general, factoring, function types and their graphs and how to shift and reflect them, minima and maxima, difference quotient, etc.) and pointing out what you can learn and forget because you won't need it in calculus. |
| Resume Writing |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Want your resume to stand out on paper yet also be readable by automated resume scanners so your information is sure to get into the system? I'll help you showcase your job experience and get right to the point, and I'll help you avoid common mistakes like putting insignificant things on your resume or being too bland about your descriptions. If your job experience is unimpressive, I'll show you how to make you change your wording so you sound like you actually accomplished something. I'll also explain how to answer questions in an interview so that your answers are consistent with your resume. If you have good accomplishments, I'll help you sound like a self-motivated go-getter superstar and make companies want you...Get ready to get a better job somewhere! |
| SAT - Math |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all SAT Math concepts. Particularly good at showing students how to eliminate incorrect answer choices and guess intelligently and strategically for higher scores. Also very familiar with the core concepts tested over and over again on the SAT Math. |
| SAT - Verbal |
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| Expert a tutoring the SAT Verbal. Many of my students have gotten scores above 700, some of them perfect scores (although most score in the 600's after working with me for a few months). First, you will learn to spot trick answers from a mile away and eliminate them. Second, you will learn which questions to answer first in the boring reading passages WITHOUT EVEN READING THE READING PASSAGES. Third, you will learn that you only have to be MINIMALLY AWARE of what the boring reading passages are saying to answer almost every question right. That's because there are specific things the passages ARE saying, and there are things the passages ARE NOT saying. You will learn to tell what they are NOT saying and pick the right answer. You do not have to be Ivy League smart to do well on the SAT Verbal. You will also learn that there is a BIG difference in prep books and that buying the right prep books can make as much as a 200-point difference in your verbal score. Finally, you will buy the book of 8 genuine SAT tests that the company that makes the SAT publishes, and we will practice taking real SATs under legit timed conditions, just like the SAT...so you will see proof positive you are improving as you invest the time practicing. Your first hour of tutoring is free (even if you don't continue) so you can see just how much tutoring is going to help you. Let's get started soon, as raising your score a lot takes time. Despite what gimmicky books and expensive coaching programs claim, there is no shortcut to raising your verbal score and no substitute for putting the work in and spending the time practicing. |
| Spanish |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| Experienced Spanish tutor. Several years of experience speaking, reading, writing, and tutoring the Spanish language. |
| Spelling |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert in Spelling. What are the rules for spelling? Are there any? We've all heard "i" before "e" except after "c"...That works for words like tie, diet, view, field, and piece, and the exception is true for ceiling and receive, but what about words like weigh, weird, either, seize, their, height, and others? There are some better rules than that, but spelling is a combination of rules and the hard work of memorization. |
| Study Skills |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all Study Skills. Particularly good at showing students how to get organized and plan their study time and learn more efficiently by reading more strategically and taking better, more relevant notes. |
| Writing |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all descriptive and creative Writing concepts. Particularly good at helping others: 1) be creative; 2) avoid wordiness; 3) be more descriptive; 4) keep focus and relevance; 5) be clear; 6) convince or persuade. |
| Writing Skills |
Proficiency: Expert
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| Expert at all descriptive and creative Writing concepts. Particularly good at helping others: 1) be creative; 2) avoid wordiness; 3) be more descriptive; 4) keep focus and relevance; 5) be clear; 6) convince or persuade. |