Rachel
Certified Tutor
I am currently a senior at Smith College majoring in Sociology and concentrating in Women's Education. I have been tutoring for years, and due to my passion for reading, I concentrate mostly in English, Literature, Writing, Essay editing, and the reading and writing sections of the SAT. I love being able to help students discover a love of reading and writing like I have, and being able to apply it to their schoolwork and any other ways they need to succeed. For learning to be most successful, I believe in a collaborative, student-centered approach to tutoring, that is, to always keep in mind both what the student wants to learn and what they need to learn. It is important to make lesson plans as engaging and relevant to the student's life as possible, because this is the way to guarantee an interest in and love of learning. Although I know that my students have a lot to gain from me, I view tutoring as a two-way process in which both parties stand to learn from each other.
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Undergraduate Degree: Smith College - Bachelors, Sociology
- SAT Composite (1600 scale): 1530
- SAT Verbal: 800
- SAT Writing: 760
I enjoy reading, playing bass, and exploring new areas.
- Arithmetic
- College English
- College Essays
- Comparative Literature
- Conversational Spanish
- Elementary Math
- Elementary School Math
- English
- English Grammar and Syntax
- ESL/ELL
- Essay Editing
- High School English
- Homework Support
- ISEE Prep
- ISEE- Lower Level
- ISEE- Middle Level
- Languages
- Literature
- Math
- Middle School Math
- Other
- Pre-Algebra
- Reading
- SAT Reading
- SAT Writing and Language
- Spanish
- Spanish 1
- Spanish 2
- Spanish 3
- SSAT Prep
- SSAT- Elementary Level
- SSAT- Middle Level
- Study Skills
- Study Skills and Organization
- Test Prep
- Writing
What is your teaching philosophy?
A student-centered, collaborative approach in which the course of learning is focused on the student's wants and needs.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Get to know them a little bit and see where they need help/want help.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
By teaching them strategies for problem-solving, grammar rules, and ways to spot errors in their work that won't require me to help them when I'm not around.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Encouraging them when they get something right, and also encouraging them when they get something wrong by helping them see that mistakes lead to more learning and understanding, and that they don't determine how smart a person is.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Try different approaches to improving their learning and aim for understanding the skill/concept rather than just getting problems right.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
Working on learning how to take notes and annotate, and how to then use these notes and underlines to understand the text and what is occurring.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
I have found positive reinforcement and bonding with the student to be most successful.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
By making it relevant to their life in any way that I can.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Giving them practice questions, having a conversation about the material.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
Encouraging them when they get something wrong, and emphasizing that getting an answer wrong does not mean that the student has failed.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
Giving them some questions, and having a conversation about where they feel their need is.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
Focusing on the areas where they need the most help.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
The student's schoolbooks, extra paper, pens, pencils and if it is a test prep session, a book with practice questions.