About
I began tutoring seriously in 2018 through a service-learning program at University of Washington. In this program, I was connected with a community of Eritrean immigrants at the Eritrean Kidisti Selassie church. Here I lead tutoring sessions during the church’s weekday afterschool program, which typically had somewhere between five and ten students ranging in ages from Kindergarten to 12th grade. As one of two tutors participating in this program, I had to balance time and teaching styles between each student. I learned a lot by shifting from helping a student with an essay, to tutoring algebra, to helping a kindergartener read all within the same day.
During this program, I was approached by a few parents to help tutor their children individually outside of the typical church schedule. I now provide private sessions for these children, and since then other clients, primarily with essay help. Many of these parents are interested in prepping their children for private high school entry exams, so my focus has been to pass down test-taking strategies and reinforce organizational skills that will help them achieve these goals. After finding how much I enjoyed being a part of these students' success I decided to pursue tutoring full time. In 2019 I was hired to work at Lehman Learning Solutions, one of the most prestigious tutoring clinics in Seattle for children K-12.
As a tutor at Lehman I worked full-time helping students reach their learning goals. Much of this work is focused on Brain-Based Learning. This approach uses unique teaching methods to target building blocks of learning such as attention and memory that are often neglected in standard tutoring practices. Through this work, I learned valuable tools that I now use with students who seem to be hitting writing roadblocks.
What I enjoy the most about tutoring is the opportunity to get to know each student I work with and assess their strengths and challenges individually. No two students are the same. I love the fact that I get the opportunity to form meaningful relationships with my students that will go on to inform the learning process as a whole.
Highlights
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Seth A.
Sara P.
Cameron C.
Eden N.
Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
I start by having a conversation about what the goals are for these sessions. If possible, this happens prior to our first lesson. Then I begin developing a lesson plan that fits the students needs. This could mean supplemental vocabulary work or generic outlines for an expository essay. I provide my students with resources and a lesson structure that I feel will best target our goals.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
While working at Lehman Learning Solutions I was trained on Brain Based approaches to learning. At Lehman we approached learning challenges by starting at the root of these challenges. Often this means first enhancing attention and memory through various activities. A program that we used regularly at Lehman was Processing And Cognitive Enhancement (PACE). This program was comprised of various activities that combined cognitive function with physical and visual elements. By first tracing learning issues to attention or memory we noticed enormous improvements in our students, both behavioral and academic.