Personal Description:

I recently finished a master's degree program in history. I have a long-standing love of learning, but what I enjoy even more is sharing my knowledge with others. I am an avid reader and I hope to model for students that learning and reading can, in fact, be fun. I have a passion for seeing my students excel. I think one of the greatest joys of teaching is knowing that you have helped someone better understand something, and knowing that that student may carry what they have learned into the future. It is important to build confidence in students so that they will continue to enjoy learning and believe they are capable of handling future academic challenges.

Tutoring Experience:

Most of my teaching experience occurred while I was in graduate school and acting as a teaching assistant. Through this experience I was able to lead seminars, plan lessons, interact with students one-on-one and help students work on their individual projects throughout the school year. I also made sure to make myself available to students outside of class time; this included holding regular office hours, consistently answering student emails, and meeting students during times that best worked for them.
My role as a teaching assistant also gave me the chance to mark student papers and exams. This experience clearly outlined to me the importance of ensuring that critiques have more positive things to say than negative; this was regardless of the material that I was presented. I feel it is very important to build students up rather than offering only negative comments.

Tutoring Approach:

My approach to tutoring is grounded in, again, consistently providing positive feedback. I also think providing students with numerous examples is beneficial. Not every student will respond to materials in the same way, so I feel it is important to have a variety of examples. Once I am able to run through examples with students I am also given a clearer picture as to which parts they are understanding and which parts we will need to spend more time on.
Again, I approach tutoring with the mindset that I am here to help students reach their own potential. I think being patient and working with each student on an individual level is, quite often, beneficial to both the student and the tutor.