I am a 23 year old Barnard College graduate, starting medical school this coming fall. My degree is in history with a minor in psychology and concentration in premedical studies. I began tutoring my freshman year of high school for a girl in 6th grade. I helped her in math, science, English, social studies and Hebrew. Throughout high school I continued to tutor both younger students and my peers in various subjects, adapting my methods to each students specific needs. I am dedicated, responsible, and have a lot of patience. This has gone far in helping me in my previous 9 years of tutoring experience.
My junior year of college, I was asked to be a teaching assistant for chemistry and biology. As a teaching assistant in general and intermediate chemistry, I graded homework and weekly problem sets. Additionally, when students struggled and could not grasp the material, the professor would send them to me for tutoring in small groups and one on one sessions. However, as other students expressed interest in my help, I made time to tutor additional students outside of the official duties. Having never officially taught before, I needed to be adaptable in order to best engage the students and teach the material in an understandable manner. By my second semester assisting the course, I felt prepared and confident in my methods having prepared students and watched them improve their grades and self-confidence the previous semester. After this achievement I was honored to be asked to assist the intermediate general chemistry course for the students I had my first semester assisting. This new course was more challenging as the more advanced chemistry had not come as easily to me so I had to modify my methods of teaching in order to help the students with the material. My patience, persistence and communication skills were tested daily while explaining the advanced chemistry concepts in an understandable and engaging manner. In the end I believe I learned as much from my students as they learned from me, emphasizing that in every experience one is both a student and a teacher and the importance of this in the field of science.
For biology, my duties included grading homework and weekly quizzes, instructing students during experiments, and aiding in set up and clean up of the lab. Outside of the lab students came to me for tutoring both in technique and grasp of material. Because many students were freshman they doubted their abilities and as a result feared the material, I attempted to build their confidence and skill as the semester progressed. The most rewarding part was watching a student who struggled in the beginning receiving C's on her work find the confidence in herself and mastery of the material to receive an A on the final.
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