Our Tutors

Shelly S

Teaching Style

Because science is a "hands-on" subject, I feel it is extremely important to use demonstrations, examples that are relevant to every-day life, experiments and anything else that will help students understand the world around them. I have been told that I have an "out-of-the-box" approach to learning, but have found it to be successful with the majority of students. Classroom discussions are utilized more often then lectures, because when a student plays an active role in their education, they learn more.

Experience Summary

Over the past 12 years, I have worked in both the private and public sectors of the education community. I have taught grades 7-12 in all areas of science. I have also been the director of a learning center, where I started as a tutor. The years of experience have taught me a great deal about children of all ages and abilities. With each new year, I learn something new about myself and my style.

Justin J

Teaching Style

I am a very enthusiastic tutor and, as I stated in the previous section, believe teaching in such a way that the student gains a true mastery of the given subject. In a sense, I believe in each student understanding a particular concept in their own unique way that is consistent with their unique thinking processes. I strive to do this by relating a given concept analogously to something the student already fundamentally understands. I also create new problems to solve that probe the students’ progress and comprehension. I try to make these problems as realistic as possible to make them interesting to the student.

Experience Summary

Being a Ph.D. candidate and appointed research assistant, I very much realize the importance of true comprehension of a subject. Not only do I hold two B.S. degrees in Applied Mathematics and Chemical Engineering but I also carry credits to the equivalent of a Non-Thesis Masters in Applied Mathematics and am one course shy of a minor in Chemistry. I have tutored groups of students for Sylvan Learning Centers, conducted one-on-one sessions with Educational Enrichment and independently, and prepared and delivered lectures for advanced undergraduate chemical engineering courses. I am capable and experienced in tutoring all levels of mathematics, chemistry, chemical engineering, physics and materials science.

Yvetot Y

Teaching Style

I am a firm believer in actively teaching with tools and visual aids to facilitate a student’s understanding. I perceive myself as a facilitator rather than an educator. I see my role as someone that can help students develop ways and methods of associating and assimilating concepts and ideas, and develop ways to effectively use them. Given the appropriate support and time I believe all students can and will learn. Though the learning process will be different from student to student, I think that it is my professional responsibility to find the best method to make it happen. I measure my effectiveness by how well a student assimilates and utilizes the knowledge being dispensed.

Experience Summary

My interest in teaching began after two years of providing on-site private tutoring in the schools. The feedback and outpouring of positive reinforcement that I received from the students led me to the classroom. I have taught science for three years in two different Dade County Schools. My years teaching have given me a better focus of the sciences and gifted me with new managerial skills. The planning of weekly lessons, the adjustments of curriculum, along with responding to multivariate behaviors in the classroom have helped to shape the educator that I am today. I now have a much greater understanding of the learning process and the many ways it can be facilitated.

Mary Kathleen M

Teaching Style

I believe that every person has the ability to be a 'good' writer. In academics there are rules that a writer must follow. It is important to teach the conventions of writing so that students can build a solid foundation. After a student knows the rules, they can transfer good writing to other aspects of life (Civic, Professional, Personal). In my experience, students come in with a rough draft and need some guidance on how to move forward. I have tutored in groups and individually, and in both situations I may keep students on track, but they are the ones who figure out what their strengths and weaknesses are and how to improve their overall composition

Experience Summary

I earned my Bachelors of Arts from the University of Florida in 2006 and soon after I started Graduate school at the University of South Florida. As a graduate student I have been a writing tutor at the college level. I first started tutoring at Saint Petersburg College in 2007. The students who came in for help were in a variety of courses, such as Creative Writing and Speech. Every person came in with frustration, but left with a sense of accomplishment. This summer I was a T.A. at the University of South Florida in Dr. Conner's Composition II course. This course integrated technology by operating on a Wiki and communicating through chats, blogs, emails, etc. I was able to stay an active participant by reading students' posts and joining conversations. Through my graduate courses I have improved my own writing skills. I am currently in a Composition course where we are creating rubrics and assessing writing of students at the University of South Florida. This course is made up of 6 students that collaborate with faculty and writing coordinators at the University to develop new rubrics.

Hoai H

Teaching Style

In my experience I have discovered that it is better for the student, whether he or she is at elementary or university level, to come up to his or her own conclusions and answers. My style of teaching does not involve doing the work for the student, rather I like to say that I provide the necessary information and aid to point the student in the right direction. This in some cases can take a lot of time and patience, but in the end one learns better when he or she does things himself instead of someone doing it for him. I also believe that one of the most important things to do initially when teaching new students is to create a friendly environment, where the student feels at ease with asking absolutely any question pertaining to the coursework. A student will not listen to a tutor who he or she cannot speak to on a friendly level or respect. I guess to boil everything down, my approach to teaching is simple, treat every student as an individual mind and person who has the possible capacity to grasp any thing he or she is trying to learn or accomplish.

Experience Summary

My time at UIC has given my many skills and experiences that make me a good candidate for your tutoring services. Being a former engineering student and ultimately switching over to and graduating with a degree in English, I feel that I have a wide range of attributes and experience in coursework to provide to your company. In addition, during my sophomore year I began working with the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago where I was a mentor/tutor for a group of students at the Frazier Elementary School on the west side of Chicago. The Frazier Boys and Girls Club taught me the patience it takes when it comes to teaching and tutoring young children. This position lasted three years and I'd like to believe that through my time with these children, I instilled the importance of education not only in school work and grades, but personal knowledge and intelligence. I have also worked for a semester at the UIC Writing Center where I was a writing tutor for students needing assistance with paperwork in a wide range of subjects from Science to English to grad school applicants.

Davorin D

Teaching Style

From my tutoring experience, I have noticed that students have trouble understanding the meaning of numbers and symbols on paper simply because no one has taught them how to visualize and interpret them in a real world situation. They also don't realize that they have plethora of resources and tools available to them to help them, yet they rarely utilize them. I try to give hints and clues to my students and let them obtain the right answers on their own instead of simply solving the problem for them. I believe this gives them a much better understand of the material.

Experience Summary

Having recently graduated with a Bachelor's degree, I am continuing my education to obtain my Master's degree in mathematics. Number Theory will be my focus, as I intend to get involved in the encryption field. During my senior year as undergraduate, I have worked on campus as a teacher's assistant and at home as an online tutor for UNCG's iSchool program. I have privately tutored undergraduates needing help in pre-calculus and calculus. I enjoyed helping the students and showing them some of my own tricks and ways when it comes to solving the problems.

Zebunnisa Z

Teaching Style

I am a young, enthusiastic, and dedicated teacher/tutor. I truly care about my students and aim to help them achieve academic success as well as to help them grow as individuals. Through my experience as a teacher, I have developed a teaching style that I can adapt to the unique needs of my students.

Experience Summary

As a Math major during both my undergraduate and graduate studies, I have developed a great knowledge of the subject. I began peer tutoring while completing my Bachelor's at Stonybrook and have been tutoring ever since. I have tutored middle school through college level mathematics, but the majority of my tutoring experience has been in high school subjects.

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.