Experienced Tutor, Specializing Inorganic Chemistry and Calculus

Ayana J.

Hi, I'm Ayana! I'm a sophomore at UC Berkeley, majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology. I've deeply enjoyed my STEM courses throughout high school and college, from algebra and calculus to biology and chemistry. I love learning about how things work in the real world and day-to-day, and love expressing that interest with other people. I aim to bring this approach to how I teach others' concepts, involving the bigger picture with the minute but necessary details.

I have tutoring experience from volunteering as a math peer tutor during lunch breaks at my high school during my senior year. I helped with various problems related to different topics and areas in math, mainly algebra, trigonometry, and calculus.

I also have teaching/mentorship experience from being a college counselor for low-income high school students through a club on campus. I created individualized curricula on top of the provided slides, as I found them a little bare, and met with each student biweekly for a school year. I created surveys for my mentees inquiring about their goals and where they thought they needed help most, and designed my curriculum tailored to that. For example, one mentee of mine needed help with essay brainstorming because that was the phase she was in for her application process. I created a few creative writing activities for her to gather ideas for essays, which we worked through during sessions.

My general approach to teaching or tutoring is to follow the student's needs. If they need deep help with concepts, I'll have them give me materials that I can research before our meeting, and adopt a lecture-based system to help them learn better. However, if they struggle with applying a concept, I'll have them send me their practice and contextual materials to work through during the session. I'm also always looking for ways to adapt strategies, so I'm very open to feedback.

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope to see you soon!