Our Tutors In California

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.

Redha R

Teaching Style

I teach by example and I am methodical. I show a student how to solve a problem by going very slowly and by following a sequence of steps. I make sure that the student follows understands each step before moving on to the next one. I then ask the student to solve almost the exact same problem (with a slight change in numbers for example)so that the student learns the method and how to solve the problem by herself/himself. I am very patient but expect the student to be willing to learn. I tell students that learning a subject matter is more important than getting an A in a class - this is because 1. if you learn, chances are you won't forget (at least for a long while) and 2. you will get a good grade as a result.

Experience Summary

I have been employed by the IBM corporation for the last 27 years. I held numerous positions in hardware development, software development, telecommunication network development, project management, solution architecture, performance analysis, and others. As much as I enjoy my job, I have passion in Mathematics. I develop new ideas related to my work and expand them into U.S. patents and external technical papers. I informally tutor family and friends attending high school or college. I was a Mathematics teaching assistant at the Univ. of Pittsburgh for 2 years and at the Univ. of Michigan at Ann Arbor for 3 years. I love teaching and sharing my knowledge with others. I have published numerous technical papers and hold numerous U.S. patents as well.

Jack J

Teaching Style

Students both in and out of the classroom are nothing more than an untapped source of infinite potential. Each and every student has the inner strength and drive to be the best that they can be, regardless of the circumstances. It’s the job of the educator to motivate and prepare each individual for success in life. My passion is to help kids realize that potential and inspire them to push beyond their limits to achieve that level of accomplishment that was once thought unattainable. Success in life is best achieved in an environment filled with motivation and positive reinforcement. This rewards creativity as well as spurs curiosity. These are priceless qualities that make learning enjoyable versus bothersome.

Experience Summary

What better way to learn, master, and hone your individual skills and talents than to teach someone else? There is no better feeling than to share your own knowledge and experience with another child, and to watch them grow and mature as both a person and a student. That is the exact reason why I chose the path that I did. It first started with a position as a substitute teacher in the state of Florida. There isn’t a more diverse and broad range of personalities anywhere else in the country. However, my desire to teach and help others didn’t stop at the academic level. Soon after graduating from the University of South Florida with a degree in Biomedical Sciences, I enrolled into medical school. As a practicing physician I will be able to continue with my passion for teaching both children and adults for the rest of my career.

Andy A

Teaching Style

I am grateful that school was easy for me, but I also know that for many children the task of discovering, understanding, making sense of, and retaining information can be tough and may seem almost overwhelming. All children can learn and there is no better way to instill that desire in them, than to work one-on-one or in small groups. All subjects can be made interesting, and I feel I have a knack for making the "boring" material come alive with relevance and excitement.

Experience Summary

Upon graduating from Johns Hopkins with a degree in writing, I substitute taught full-time at the high school and the middle school levels in the small upstate New York town where I grew up. Since my days as a substitute teacher, I have worked as a freelance writer, Senior Editor at a major publishing company, Senior Copywriter at an ad agency, and attended grad school. Over the past 15 years, I have tutored a number of high school students primarily in English, social studies, paper-writing, and general test-taking strategies.

Melissa Rose M

Teaching Style

I want to teach students about themselves, others, and the world around them through literature and learning experiences. All information is presented in ways that all students can relate and understand core concepts to be successful in the classroom and in life. The most important achievement in my teaching career is for my students to evaluate information, discover topics they are passionate about, and realize they have a voice and can make a difference by becoming life long learners.

Experience Summary

Education is my life. From a very young age, I loved school and learning. It all started with my brother and his learning disability. I tutored him all throughout his academic career. In college I tutored elementary students through the CARE program. I then decided to be an English Education major and have been teaching ever since. Currently, I am finishing my graduate work at East Carolina University and working on the addition of TESL on to my teaching license. As a lifelong learner, I understand the importance of education and on researching the best methods of teaching to all students.

Victoria V

Teaching Style

I truly enjoy teaching. My strategy involves actively engaging the student in the learning process. I always try to develop personalized programs based on each student's strengths and weaknesses.

Experience Summary

In 2006 I graduated from Bowling Green State University (Ohio) with a Master of Science degree. During my Master's program I worked as a teaching assistant in General and Organic Chemistry Laboratories. I was responsible for a brief introduction of the material prior to every lab period. This greatly helped me to learn how to organize material I was to present and explain difficult concepts in a simple manner. At USC as a Ph.D. student, I had a chance to work for the Student Athletes Academic Service where I was a chemistry and math tutor. In addition, during the spring of 2007 I was working as an assistant for the Organic Chemistry Course at LA Trade Tech College, where I was responsible for weekly sessions.

John J

Teaching Style

I am convinced, partly because of my own experiences, that the current educational system best serves the needs of the average student. I also believe that it seldom addresses the needs of those students whose learning style is not a good fit with the one size fits all educational system. This may be for a wide variety of reasons, but the result is that the student is left without the needed skill set to compete and what’s worse, left with the message that they are responsible for "not getting it" and are inferior or stupid in some respect. I nearly flunked junior high pre-algebra, and was a mediocre math student in high school. I eventually managed to teach myself, and have subsequently scored 800 on the math section of the GRE and was one of about 50/15000 to score a perfect 15 on the quantitative section of the medical college admission test (MCAT). What is wrong with this picture? My own take is that we all have different styles of optimal learning, and what’s more, are often hindered by simple roadblocks that only 1:1 teaching can identify and redress. I am very passionate about finding the approach that clicks, and building back the esteem that comes with mastery of the subject material.

Experience Summary

Prior to entering graduate and later medical school, I tutored a variety of subjects in the area of mathematics and science. As a PhD candidate, one of the requirements was to assist in teaching the physiology labs, and as an advanced candidate, was given the opportunity to give lectures in physiology to medical and nursing students. Most recently I have been an unpaid volunteer on the on-line physics forum where advanced high school and college students can go on line for assistance with their homework. Because of my career selection, I have had to take many standardized examinations and am quite adept at these. I believe I can help other aspiring students achieve the higher scores needed for acceptance in programs of their choice.