I have always known that I wanted to work with children. Whether it was teaching, counseling or defending them in a court room -I knew that I just had to work with kids. When I was 13, my music teacher asked me to be her head camp counselor and help her teach music theory to a class of about 20 students ages 8-16. I was thrilled and this was the first step towards me achieveing my goal of working with kids for the rest of my life. I ended up becoming the manager of the camp counselors 2 years later and I was offered a full time position as one of her piano teachers.
During the next 3 years until I left for college, not only did I teach piano and supervise people, but I also tutored students at the school who needed help with their homework. In the summertime during our after-care service for the summer camp, my staff and I would teach children new math and reading skills. During these 5 years at the music school, I would also occasionally return to my elementary school and volunteer in my former teacher's classroom, assisting her with reading and math. Since I was in high school myself, I always had to improve my own study habits and learning techniques in order to help other students. When I was asked to become a Spanish tutor at my school, I knew for sure that this was where I was supposed to be, helping and tutoring students.
I major in psychology and I have a minor in Spanish. I still make sure to come up with ways to efficiently help students learn. The key to learning is to first bring the right mindset to the table, know that there is more than one way to get to an answer, and that asking questions does not make you the dumb kid. I also believe that learning is not about memorizing the answer then forgetting it after a test, but for me, learning is the real life experiences that can be applied to a textbook and make you feel like you are part of that math probelm or story in the book. All children have different learning styles and once I figure out which style a child is dominant in, I take it and use it to make sure your child learns the lesson and enjoys it at the same time.
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