Kolya Shields

Hello, I'm Kolya! I'm studying Modern Culture and Media and Comp Lit at Brown, with a 4.0 GPA, and am also pursuing a minor in Environmental Science. I've always noticed that I retained information best, and with the most complexity, when I was teaching it to others. This inspired me to go into education and tutoring, as a way to give back to my community, logging service hours for the National Honors Society, and helping a family through remote school full-time. This also guides my teaching philosophy -- by focusing on interactive activities, student-driven projects, and capping each module with a teach-back from my tutee, every student comes out confident and well-versed in their learning, able to explain what they know and even teach it to another person. I find this strategy important because it allows students to make an impact beyond their own knowledge, with the ability to pass it on to their peers. Further, this strategy requires individual adjustment and personalization, since everyone has their own teaching and presentation style.

I've been a tutor, both online and in-person, for 6+ years, trained by multiple companies and teaching classes for ages 6-18 in subjects from entrepreneurship to chemistry to math to writing to college prep to product design. I got a 5 on 6 APs, including BC Calc and APUSH, scored 1510 on my SATs. I can tutor advanced AP classes, SAT prep, as well as fun science or reading activities for elementary schoolers, but I have the most expertise in writing, reading, language, and editing, given my years of experience writing for journals, editing literary magazines, and working on academic research projects -- including co-authoring peer-reviewed papers!

I love to hear from students about their goals and any best learning practices they already have, so each lesson can be as personalized and successful as possible. I will respond quickly and with care, so reach out at any time to schedule a lesson or ask a question!