Personal Description:

Hi, my name is Gideon. I am 29 years old and use he/him pronouns. I have always loved learning and teaching but it took me some time to realize that I am most passionate for and best suited to elementary teaching. I recently decided to switch out of my own PhD studies to pursue becoming an elementary school teacher.

Tutoring Experience:

I have a wide range of experience teaching both in classrooms and as a tutor for students of all ages:
- tutor for elementary students ranging from SK to Grade 6 in English and Math (285 hours);
- English as a second language teaching assistant in a high school in France (300 hours);
- Grade 1 and a Grade 5 classroom volunteer, assisting with all subjects including social sciences, geography, and science (442 hours);
- social sciences teaching assistant at York University to undergraduate students (675 hours);
- completed undergraduate and graduate courses that qualify me to teach all subjects at an elementary level (8 years university of education).

Tutoring Approach:

First and foremost I focus on connecting with students and making sure that the learning process is positive, comfortable, and engaging. I always try to learn about my students' interests and incorporate them into the learning sessions, and when necessary, I provide short breaks to keep students focused and confident. When possible, I use the first session or two to identify learning objectives for the student so that I can tailor activities to the specific learning objectives of each student. I teach systematically by breaking tasks down to a basic, comprehensible level and then building upon these foundations slowly through repetition and gradual mastery of concepts. For example, I have helped elementary students in need of help with spelling, reading, and paragraph writing by first teaching an understanding of phonics; we break words into their different sounds so that we can recognize letter-sound combinations that recur within the English language. Beyond this approach, if students need help with specific homework assignments I can also build tutorial sessions around assignments.