Our Tutors

Donald D

Teaching Style

I believe children today are shortchanged by our educational system. Kids need people who hold them to high standards rather than minimums. They need to feel like people believe they are worthy of success and able to attain it rather than being given built-in excuses. Therefore, my teaching style is to hold students to a high level of proficiency. I work with students in a way that builds their confidence and makes them feel like they know things others don't. There is a real "edge" that they feel when they think they might actually be "one of the smart ones" after all and it breeds both an interest and an ambition to be better.

Experience Summary

I have Accounting, Finance, and Economics degrees or designations of emphasis as part of my educational resume. Earning those degrees takes quite a bit of mathematical and analytical knowledge and skill. I went into these degree areas because they not only met one of many areas of interest to me but I also perceived they were perhaps more useful. However, I have a great interest and an immersion based education in history, civics, and political science based areas. I've also been asked to be a contributing writer for both a political blog and a sports related blog which has allowed me to hone my writing and grammatical skills.

Katherine K

Teaching Style

Throughout my teaching experience I have encountered students of all ages and abilities, from high school students with learning differences to adult learners of ESL. I believe each student is unique and brings their own set of experiences and strengths to the material to be learned, necessitating an adaptable teaching style. I am experienced in the communicative approach and believe each students learns best through discovery and by utilizing their particular intelligence. I am patient, relaxed and treat each student with respect. I think students learn best when they are having fun and have a trusting relationship with their teacher.

Experience Summary

While working towards my bachelors degree in English (with a minor in Political Science), I worked as a substitute teacher in the public school system for a year and a half, in order to ascertain my affinity for many different levels and subjects. My writing and grammatical skills are excellent; in 2004 I was awarded First Place in Undergraduate Writing at the University of North Florida. My first professional teaching experience complemented my areas of expertise perfectly: I taught English as a Foreign Language to business professionals in Argentina for six months, using the communicative approach. During this time I learned much about South American politics and culture, as well as the Spanish language. Upon return I taught English to high school students for one year at a private school for students with learning disabilities and emotional/ behavioral problems. This summer, I have again taught international students at a Berlitz ESL program, ELS Language Center. Throughout the years I have also tutored and worked with students one on one many times, specifically with rudimentary reading and writing.

Jim J

Teaching Style

Educational goals are comprised of two major types: short term - typically course oriented and long term - typically life oriented. I believe that everyone can learn almost any subject matter if it is presented in a meaningful manner - conceptual and tangible. I utilize my broad-based educational and life experiences to identify and then address a person's learning opportunities so that they not only succeed in the short term goals but also incorporate their new knowledge in a manner supporting their goals of life long education. Education and the ability to think is a gift - I am committed to supporting a person's efforts to receive this gift.

Experience Summary

I am a graduate of the University of California, Irvine. I originally studied Chemistry and Biological Sciences for the first 3 years maintaining a high GPA. I became allergic to many base reagents used in synthesis that precluded me from completing this educational path. I completed my education in business receiving degrees in economics and business administration. I went to work with a global consulting firm implementing financial systems. Since college I have continued to tutor mathematics, chemistry, biological science and physics. I have tutored for over 20 years intermittently. Many of my students completed their educations at universities including the University of California, Notre Dame, Syracuse, CSULB, etc.

Stuart S

Teaching Style

As a product of top-notch education I feel that I have become intimately familiar with effective teaching styles and have thereby tried to replicate the best of these styles. I would describe my teaching style as adaptive because I feel a certain teaching style that works for one student may be inadequate for another student. For this reason I strive to first determine how a particular student learns and subsequently derive an action plan. For example, if a student seems to retain information from a book or other types of visual material but not from a teacher's lecture I would deem that student to be a more visual based learner. In such a scenario, I would approach the student in a visual based manner through animations, practice problems, and other visual material. On the other hand, if the student was found to be a more auditory-based learner that student may benefit from descriptive metaphors or a verbal walk through of sample problems.

Experience Summary

As a graduate of Bucknell University and the prestigious Mercersburg Academy, I gained a strong affinity for education and thereby providing quality learning experiences for others. While at the Mercersburg Academy I earned a 700 math score and a 680 verbal score on my SATs. At Bucknell I earned a bachelor's of science degree in biochemistry and cell biology while gaining extensive experience in chemistry, biology, psychology, physics, math, and scientific research. I have also gained extensive writing experience in the form of research papers, lab reports, and numerous other classes at both Bucknell and Mercersburg that required a plethora of writing. During the past year I served as an Honors and Accelerated Chemistry teacher at the esteemed Worcester Academy while tutoring biology, physics, and chemistry students during the evenings.

Antonio A

Teaching Style

I am a very good listener and very patient. I have the patience needed for the most difficult tasks in tutoring. I also have an open mind to resolve problems in more than one traditional way. I believe that people learn in different ways so tutoring has to correspond to that need.

Experience Summary

I hold a MBA in Finance and a BS in Civil Engineering. I feel pretty comfortable teaching the majority of the math classes, geometry, trigonometry and finance. For the past 5 years I have given private tutoring to individuals and small groups. I am also trilingual.

Darlene D

Teaching Style

Much of my job includes mentoring new employees. Although I enjoy working with adults, I find it much more interesting to work with younger people. I would like the opportunity to tutor another student who is struggling with math. I have found that most students I have helped just needed some individual attention, and a safe place to ask questions that they would not ask in the classroom setting.

Experience Summary

I have worked in the Computer Science field since 1985 when I first started working for the US Space Program. During that time, I earned my BS and MS degrees, and am currently working on the Doctorate in Business with Applied Computer Science. During the last four years, I have tutored a student in mathematics, ranging from basic Algebra to College Calculus. During that time, the student received all A's. Since this student is moving on to a University out of the area, I will no longer be working with him; therefore I am looking forward to helping other students.

Brigid B

Teaching Style

I see the role of the educator as a pivotal element in not only academic success, but social and cultural success as well. Therefore my teaching skills often incorporate pockets of knowledge from various disciplines. I also believe that the role of the teacher can also mirror the role of the student, as both teacher and student can learn from each other. I believe that children should be given the necessary tools that foster intellectual curiosity, so as to sharpen creativity and independent thinking. My approach to teaching is not to just impart information, but to impart information in such a way that will lend for students to engage in questioning and realization of answers. Because after all, learning is discovery!

Experience Summary

My academic and professional histories champion my lack of formal teaching experience. Upon graduating from NC State with Psychology and Journalism degrees in December 2005, I was employed as an editorial and production assistant at a national consumer magazine; Child, in New York City. My roles were exhaustive of both skills I am trained in, and the quality of my writing and grammatical abilities improved greatly. I have been tutoring undergraduate students in writing and aiding with their writing assignments for roughly three years. Notwithstanding the fact that I currently am a research assistant at NCSU's social psychology stress lab, I am confident that my contribution to Advanced Learners' students will be par none.

Joanne J

Teaching Style

My teaching style is student centered and hands-on. I try to get students to recreate what scientists really do in the lab to discover and find solutions to problems, so a lot of time is spent in the lab and collaborating. I also incorporate data analysis in the lab experiences, so a lot of my labs require that students collect and share data, and base their conclusions to a problem on the data, and not a book answer. I think this is the reason why I had so many science fair winners at the middle school level. Often my parents where I amazed at what I could get their kids to create in terms of lab reports.

Experience Summary

I have been teaching for about 14 years. I discovered teaching while I was doing volunteer work bringing science to elementary school children in the inner cities of Philadelphia. I was hooked. I had so much fun and the fact that I could get paid for it was secondary but a bonus. I started out as a middle school teacher and I have been quite successful with them at science fair competitions. One year, 6 of my sixth graders took 6 of the 7 places in city fair. My eighth graders won first place 2 years in a row. One student went on to state competition (he won 2nd place in a category higher than his grade level), and another was awarded and honored at a Spectroscopy Society dinner. I am presently teaching high school Chemistry and General Science, and I love what I do.