Hi,
I am a graduate student in Physics at UIC.
I have worked as a TA for 5 years, as well as held a temporary instructor position for one year at the Saint Xavier University, Chicago.
I received my math and physics education in Moscow, Russia.
When I tutor a student, I usually set up a learning goal, which the student should state to me himself, and this learning goal might be adjusted later, based on the learning curve.
I am a very patient instructor, however, tutoring is a collaboration and communication between two people, the tutor and the student, and a certain level of respect, responsibility and motivation is expected. For example, practice and doing homework between the sessions.
In my experience, there is nothing that a student will not be able to learn, everything depends on the motivation, patience to yourself and lots of work, which should not be treated as a boring wasting of time, but an exercise to develop the confidence.
It is mostly important to find the optimal way to learn, to learn about yourself, how do you learn. Sometimes, one can take 3 years of physics and not really learn anything, but just memorize bunch of formulas without real understanding, and then really learn some physics from watching a sci-fi movie.
However, all this is important to understand if you are really trying to learn something. If the goal is to improve the grades, pass tests and exams, then it's a different story. You will learn how to take quizzes and exams efficiently and develop test taking skills.
One important circumstance, I have a strong Russian accent at times, but I will repeat what I am saying enough times until it's understood.
As a tutor, I realize that my mission is to be on the student's side and help him to beat the course, whether by truly learning and mastering the subject or by maximizing the performance during the important tests.
Timour T.
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