Hello, my name is Keith. I obtained a B.A. in Music History from Whitman College in 2007, and moved to Seattle shortly thereafter. I hope to attend the University of Washington's ethnomusicology graduate program within a couple of years, but in the meantime I want to return to my first love of teaching. My ultimate goal is to teach at the college level.
I have tutored third grade students, high schoolers, and college students. My strongest areas are in music, math and English; but I have studied almost all of the pre-college subjects, including Spanish, science and history. I feel confident saying that I would be an effective tutor in all of these subject areas.
I believe that my experiences in math are a good indication of what makes me unique and effective as a teacher and tutor. I love math, particularly algebra, and I have a decent amount of talent for it. However, I am not a mathematician, and I believe this is a benefit for my students. I have found that mathematicians do not generally make good teachers, since the material is easy for them, and they often do not understand why it would be difficult for any of their students.
I, on the other hand, dislike using the word "easy" to describe anything I'm trying to communicate to my students. It is a put-down on their intelligence. I am willing and eager to go back to the most basic concepts until I am certain that my student understands what he or she is doing. In other words, I have an unusually large amount of patience, and a desire to see my students succeed.