Michael

Certified Tutor

Hey Guys and Gals. I have ten years of teaching experience at two very different high schools. The first high school, a very small, rural school of roughly one hundred thirty students with next to no diversity and a poverty rate of near sixty-five percent is where I spent my first five years as an educator. The second, a large, diversity-rich school of over eleven hundred students in a college town is where I spent my last four years. Throughout these years of teaching I proved myself to be an exceptional teacher. I regularly scored very highly on performance evaluations and received praise from administrators, one of which called me a "stabilizing force in his department." Specifically, I have been commended for my development of coherent, challenging, and varied multi-disciplinary curriculum that maintained student interest, engaging all students to reach clearly defined goals, plainly communicating expectations, rapport with students, ensuring a safe and positive learning environment, facilitating student discussions, keeping regular and accurate records of student attendance, behavior, and performance, professionalism, and collegiality. All of these accolades are documented in my teaching evaluations, copies of which I would be happy to provide to you or your parents.

To me, the role of an educator extends beyond matters of curriculum, content knowledge, and assessment, and must include a level of personal commitment to students. I have long prided myself on my commitment to my students and have expressed this commitment in a number of ways, particularly my assurance of a safe, positive, relaxed, and fun learning environment. Multiple student evaluations spanning my entire teaching career have thanked me for my care and understanding of my students well enough to foster such an environment where they are not distracted, feel threatened, or feel their opinions are disregarded. Instead, I have been able to filter out interference and free my students to engage in learning about their world and themselves. The compliment from an administrator that I am the most proud of is from my most recent year of teaching and states that I "have done a tremendous job of preparing your students for life after high school. You have pushed them and challenged them to better themselves." I further expressed my commitment to my students by being an active sponsor of LifeSavers, a peer-support program that teaches empathy and effective listening skills so that students may be able to help their peers cope with such issues as depression, suicide, alcohol, drug, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, grief, sexual orientation, and various challenging family dynamics. Not only did I sponsor this organization, but I was a leader of training programs and organizer of activities that served both the students and staff of numerous local high schools. I do feel my commitment to my students will be very beneficial in guiding them to improved academic success.

I have received excellent teaching evaluations in each of the ten years I have taught and have established myself as a teacher known for his openness, his ability to relate to students, and for his ability to blend both fun and learning in his classroom. Also, I am a published author, having written many articles on American history.

Thank you for reading my profile! Currently, I am only available for in-person tutoring on weekends but am available every evening for online tutoring. I do have another full-time job, so please give me at least 24 hours of notice before you would like to schedule a session. I would be more than happy to provide any teaching evaluations or any other information that makes you and your parents comfortable and excited to schedule sessions with me.