I have a been tutoring for most of my life, from kindergarten-aged children up to college and university-level classes. I mainly tutored accounting classes for five years at Green River Community College and Washington State University. I tutored students in introductory and intermediate financial and managerial accounting classes one-on-one the entire time and learned how to convey the information so that it could be easily understood. Later, I started teaching classes that would review what students had been taught in class and also helped them to study for quizzes, exams, and finals. My reviews were very positive and I was often thanked by students for making a confusing subject understandable.
During my time tutoring at Green River Community College, I also often tutored students in basic arithmetic, pre-algebra, algebra, and number theory. I worked hard to make sure that the students were picking up the information and gave them as much time as they needed.
I also have a strong background in speaking, writing, and teaching German. Throughout high school, I took German classes and then afterwards spent a brief time in Germany. When I got back and went to Washington State University, I minored in German. My professor also recruited me to work as her assistant for the introductory class and to teach the junior-level conversational German class. I understand the rules of German and know how to get them across to a student.
Because of the time I spent intensively learning German, I also learned the rules of English and am very capable in teaching and helping to explain the rules.
My tutoring methods consist of finding out what the student already knows, figuring out what they need to know, and trying to find the easiest way to help them get there. I like to start off by explaining the necessary concepts and having the student explain back to me what I just told them and WHY it's done that way. This helps to ensure that they not only can they parrot back what I'm saying, but that they have to think about it too. Next, we do sample problems that they either have in their books or ones that I can make up. I let the student try out the problems as far as they feel comfortable. If they feel unsure, I push them to try to reason out an answer. If the answer is wrong, I ask them if they remember why it was wrong and help them answer it if they cannot remember. I believe strongly that in order to learn the material, students need to make errors and mistakes and to be gently guided to think for themselves how they would solve the problem.
I love helping people learn and am always committing to doing whatever I need to to make sure that the student has all the help they need to succeed.
back to top