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Quote from a former student: Rick, you are a terrific teacher.
Rick P.

4.9 (38 ratings)

245 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee
Hourly Rate: $50
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About Rick

Bio

Dear students and parents,

With 245 hours of tutoring experience on Wyzant and a 4.9/5-star rating (38 reviews), I love to teach.

Qualifications & Experience

Science Teacher: 5 years teaching 6th–12th grade in diverse Bay Area schools, holding a California clear teaching credential for biology.

Taught high school biology for two years, chemistry for one year, and middle school science for two years.

NGSS & 21st-Century Skills: Instruction integrates Next Generation Science...

Dear students and parents,

With 245 hours of tutoring experience on Wyzant and a 4.9/5-star rating (38 reviews), I love to teach.

Qualifications & Experience

Science Teacher: 5 years teaching 6th–12th grade in diverse Bay Area schools, holding a California clear teaching credential for biology.

Taught high school biology for two years, chemistry for one year, and middle school science for two years.

NGSS & 21st-Century Skills: Instruction integrates Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and critical thinking skills.

Equity & Inclusion: Committed to supporting equity for racial minorities and girls, fostering STEM careers, literacy, and healthy development. I was the first person in three generations of my family to graduate from college—earning three degrees (MLIS, MSW, B.A. in Psychology).

Core Subject Strengths

Biology: I have a teaching credential for biology. I taught standards-based and traditional points-based classes in high school for two years. I taught Living Earth (Biology and Geology), and Living Earth SDAIE classes, for those new to English. Extremely diverse and complicated, but unified by evolution, life is endlessly fascinating. I earned 98 out of 100 points on a college biology term paper.

Chemistry: I taught chemistry in a high school for one year and tutored strong high school students in chemistry for two years.

Science: I taught geology/Earth science in my high school Living Earth classes. I earned As in college physics and worked as a paraprofessional in a high school physics class.

English & Writing: Native speaker and experienced ESL/academic writing tutor specializing in APA style and grammar.

Psychology: B.A. and MSW background with experience tutoring AP Psychology and college coursework.

Approach
Using educational research and a calm, patient demeanor, I build strong relationships, provide tactful, encouraging feedback.

I hope we can schedule an introductory session!

Thank you,

Rick P., MLIS, MSW

Read more

Education

Humboldt State University
Psychology
San Jose State University
Masters
California State University, Sacramento
Masters
  • Licensed teacher

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $50
  • Rate details: Schedule a 90 minute lesson in person and get a 20% discount, on the hourly rate. Schedule 15 minutes before or after another student at the same location, get a 20% discount.
  • Lesson cancellation: 5 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 1/31/2016

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

Schedule

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Approved Subjects

Biology

Biology

I have loved biology since being a high school student. Extremely diverse and complicated, but unified by evolution, life is endlessly fascinating. I taught standards-based and traditional points-based classes in two high schools. All of this has been NGSS-based. I taught Living Earth (Biology and Geology), and Living Earth SDAIE classes, for those who were new to English.
English

English

I'm a native speaker, reader, and writer, of English. I have used my writing to earn two master's degrees and persuade many powerful people to see things my way. I wrote academic scientific reports while earning As in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology courses. I earned 98 out of 100 points on a college biology term paper. This paper was the “dream” of the teacher of the class. Also, I used to be a librarian, and librarians are experts in evaluating writing. As a self-employed tutor, I tutored a high school student in ESL and SAT prep. When I recently tutored another ESL student, in college essay writing, she wrote, “Rick, you are a terrific teacher, and you should get teaching credential so you can find a teaching job. I believe you are going to like it.” She also wrote, “Rick, you are a great writer. You write so beautifully.” I identified problems in English grammar, punctuation, spelling, style, and usage. Instead of simply correcting problems, I used questioning to facilitate learning and self-sufficiency. I taught the student to write in an academic, scientific style, using APA style. Then, she wrote, “I got A on my Statistics. Thanks to you, my private first class English Tutor.” I have ten months of experience managing the content of school, city and library websites. This included English proofreading and editing: I identified and corrected coworkers’ grammatical, punctuation, spelling, and typing errors, before publishing.
Psychology

Psychology

The following is specific to tutoring in psychology. For other subjects, please see my profile. I have a B.A. degree in psychology and a master’s degree in social work. The master’s degree included a substantial amount of psychology. My tutoring experience in psychology includes students in high school and college (master’s-level). Other experience related to psychology: Clinical Social Work Intern at Family Service Napa Valley, Napa, CA. Clinical Social Work Intern at the Student Health Center, CSU, Sacramento, CA. Clinical Social Work Intern at Older Adult Services, San Joaquin County Mental Health Services, Stockton, CA. Research Assistant, for the Department of Psychology, at Humboldt State University. Teaching Assistant, for the Department of Psychology, at Humboldt State University.
Writing

Writing

I'm a native speaker, reader, and writer, of English. I have used my writing to earn two master's degrees and persuade many powerful people to see things my way. I wrote academic scientific reports while earning As in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology courses. I earned 98 out of 100 points on a college biology term paper. This paper was the “dream” of the teacher of the class. Also, I used to be a librarian, and librarians are experts in evaluating writing. When I tutored an ESL student in college essay writing, she wrote, “Rick, you are a terrific teacher, and you should get teaching credential so you can find a teaching job. I believe you are going to like it.” She also wrote, “Rick, you are a great writer. You write so beautifully.” I identified problems in English grammar, punctuation, spelling, style, and usage. Instead of simply correcting problems, I used questioning to facilitate learning and self-sufficiency. I taught the student to write in an academic, scientific style, using APA style. Then, she wrote, “I got A on my Statistics. Thanks to you, my private first class English Tutor.” I have ten months of experience managing the content of school, city and library websites. This included English proofreading and editing: I identified and corrected coworkers’ grammatical, punctuation, spelling, and typing errors, before publishing.
Rick P.'s Photo

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Ratings and Reviews

Rating

4.9 (38 ratings)
5 star
(33)
4 star
(5)
3 star
(0)
2 star
(0)
1 star
(0)

Reviews

Great Tutor

Rick has helped my high school child improve her ACT essay writing for a month now. We use the WyzAnt online tutoring system and it's convenient. Rick is very prepared for the lessons. He corrects an essay in detail. He sets goals at the beginning of each lesson and writes to me about the lesson, updating me on my daughter's progress, after the lesson. Rick is very patient, organized, and professional. My daughter likes his friendly teaching style.

Elaine, 6 lessons with Rick

Nice and patient

Rick taught us not just English and grammar, but many other things such as computers, and science. Rick is always on time, and he comes with a great attitude. Rick is very knowledgeable, nice, and a great tutor.

Phuong, 15 lessons with Rick

Really good; very understanding, patient, and nice!

Ever since he started tutoring me, my grades have been getting so much better (from B's to A's). He is a very patient and nice tutor. He gives me positive, encouraging feedback for my accomplishments, efforts, and skills. For English, he has analyzed my essays, making suggestions for changes in grammar, sentence structure, and organization. For chemistry, he has explained all of the lessons, briefly and easily. He has helped me achieve a more advanced understanding of chemistry than my teacher has required.

Stacy, 9 lessons with Rick

Nice Tutor

My wife and I come from China, Rick is our first English tutor in America. Rick teach us about the Grammar and Pronunciation,it works excellent.

Alan , 17 lessons with Rick

Knowledgable and very patient.

After working with our son, Rick figured out what were weaknesses that he would focus to improve his reading skill. We discussed and decided to buy some books that would be useful for our son.

Trung, 45 lessons with Rick
Hourly Rate: $50
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