Reading And Math Tutor
About
Things I love about teaching
1. Seeing how kids think
Kids have unique ideas and perspectives. It’s fascinating to hear how they approach problems and explain concepts in their own words.
2. Learning something every day
I love to teach, but I also love to learn—and teaching offers lots of learning opportunities.
3. Getting to share things I love
You get to share that with kids. Love reading? That shows through in your language arts and reading lessons. Excited about math? You can share that enthusiasm with students.
4. Seeing a light bulb go off in a kid’s head
You know that a-ha moment—when a kid finally gets something or comes up with a brilliant idea of their own? It’s priceless. Sometimes it takes a long time to get there, but it is always worth the effort.
5. Helping kids learn their way
Kids learn differently. Helping kids understand that they can learn and find different approaches that help each of them learn based on their learning style isn’t always easy. But I love knowing that a child has both learned the skill or topic—and learned how to learn.
6. Watching kids grow and change.
It’s incredible watching kids grow and change over the course of a school year (and perhaps to see them the following year in the school). We know about developmental changes that happen in the age groups we teach, but I love seeing how that plays out in individual students. Students change physically and in how they move and use their bodies. They learn new academic and social skills. It’s almost like getting to know two different kids.
7. Getting to inspire kids
Some kids love to learn, and others aren’t so sure. I hope to inspire kids to love learning and, perhaps more importantly, to believe that they can learn and do things. By giving kids opportunities and support, and new experiences, I get to inspire them.
8. The chance to be creative
I love creating new fun ways for kids to grasp and practice. I can turn spelling practice into a game or get kids moving as they learn doubles facts in math. I can use art or music to get kids engaged. I get to be dramatic when reading a story.
9. Seeing a child take off as they get something new
There’s the a-ha moment when kids get a new skill or concept for the first time, and then you watch them take off. It’s seeing a child slowly segmenting and blending sounds, piecing together an early reader, and then watching them devour books as their fluency and confidence grow. It’s having kids struggle with math problems show a classmate how to do it. It’s a kid who takes what you taught them and asks, “What if ...” or suggests, “Now we could ...”
Highlights
Photos and videos
Reviews
Misty B.
Tonia J.
Lauren P.
Liz B.
Kimberly l.
Melinda H.
Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
I like to start with a set of books for elementary students, including fun songs, technique building, and music theory. I believe young students learn best when they have a familiar structure to their lessons and clear expectations about practice. When working with a prospect, an essential aspect of the entire process is building rapport. Students have potentially struggled with various topics at this point, so the importance of instilling confidence in them before any tutoring begins is essential to their success.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have a degree in Elementary Education, certification in early childhood, and ESL certification from Sam Houston State University. I have over 19 years of experience in elementary education teaching all subjects.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
$45 for a 45min session
What advice would you give a student looking to hire a teacher in your area of expertise?
Hiring a tutor can be a challenging task. Of course, that applies to all professions. But, for teachers, there's an extra burden: they're the ones who largely determine whether children will love or hate school, they're responsible for teaching students valuable skills, and they have a significant impact on your student's learning and love for school.
When looking for a tutor, you will want to do the following.
- IDENTIFY YOUR GOAL
Are you trying to pass a test or a class? Or are you trying to learn something?
If all you want to do is pass a test or a class or get some other short-term result and be done with it, that's a performance goal. However, if you want to understand an idea and be able to transfer it to different situations, that's a learning goal. While parents may have performance and learning goals for their children, learning should be placed above performance in general. Learning will lead to better performance, but it will happen at its own pace.
- LOOK CAREFULLY AT THE TUTOR'S ACTIONS
Good tutoring is not just the tutor teaching the student. For tutoring to be effective, students should be actively involved in the process, not just sitting silently while the tutor talks.
Here are a few things to listen for when a tutor is working with your student:
If the student does something right, does the tutor always say "Good!" and move on? Or does the tutor sometimes ask follow-up questions to check thinking? It's better when there are follow-up questions because sometimes students draw conclusions that help get answers correct on the current problem but then cause mistakes on the following types.
If the student makes a mistake, does the tutor say, "No, do it this way"? Or does the tutor say, "Tell me why you made that choice"? Getting the student to explain their choice enables the tutor to gain more insight into how the student goes about solving problems and to catch any errors in the student's thinking.