I have been teaching, tutoring and coaching in a variety of subjects for as long as I can remember. As the oldest of four children, I served as an unofficial tutor to my younger siblings. I also often helped my friends and classmates at the request of my teachers as I was able to quickly grasp the material and help explain it to my fellow students in a way that made more sense to them. In so doing, I learned that a teacher needs to not only have a firm grasp of the subject matter, but he or she also needs to understand that different students learn in different ways and that the material has to be taught in a way that suits the needs of that particular student.
When I was in middle school, I began working at a summer day camp. My first summer I worked as a counselor-in-training before being promoted to counselor for the next three years and eventually to the position of specialist for my final two summers. As a publicly funded program, the camp was required to accept any and all children regardless of their abilities/disabilities. This gave me the opportunity to work with children ranging from absolutely brilliant students at the top of their class to those with learning disabilities, autism, and mental retardation. As a result of working with such a diverse group of children, I learned to organize activities and lessons that both: (1) challenged and engaged the more advanced children in the group; and (2) incorporated and included the children who didn't have such an easy time grasping the material.
After graduating from law school, I was presented with another opportunity to work as a tutor to earn extra income while studying for the bar exam. I was hired by a test prep company to teach SAT classes to high school children. I taught both to a group of students in a classroom setting and one on one as a private tutor. I take great pride in knowing that every single one of the children I worked with improved their scores on both the math and verbal sections of the SAT.
More recently, I have been blessed to work with children in an entirely new capacity. I get to work with my four-year-old son as he begins his school years, and for the last year I have been helping my girlfriend's ten-year-old daughter with her course work. This has reminded me how much I enjoy teaching and prompted me to start tutoring again.
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