In high school, I tutored adults in Pre-Calculus for one year at Miami University of Middletown. I learned that the ability to learn a subject is a completely different skill than the ability to teach it, and I learned how to conceptualize and explain concepts in the way my clients would best understand.
I have a Bachelor's in South Asian Studies from the University of Minnesota with a minor in Asian Languages & Literature. During college, I studied abroad in India, where I worked with...
In high school, I tutored adults in Pre-Calculus for one year at Miami University of Middletown. I learned that the ability to learn a subject is a completely different skill than the ability to teach it, and I learned how to conceptualize and explain concepts in the way my clients would best understand.
I have a Bachelor's in South Asian Studies from the University of Minnesota with a minor in Asian Languages & Literature. During college, I studied abroad in India, where I worked with the educational non-profit Bodh Siksha Samiti. I taught English to students in 1st - 8th grade and assisted in developing a pilot ESL program which was used in schools across the state of Rajasthan. Each class had students with a wide variety of education experience. Some were the first to attend a formal school in their family. I used songs, stories, Q&A's, work sheets, posters, and activities to engage the students. I asked them what they wanted to learn and prioritized their interests.
After college, I worked as a substitute teacher in Illinois. I taught Pre-K through 8th grade, including special education. Usually, the teachers left me with a lesson plan. I learned how to jump into a teaching situation and adapt quickly to the needs of students I didn't know very well.
All of this experience has taught me the importance of thinking about where the student is coming from: their level of knowledge, their strengths and anxieties, and the best way to help them learn and stay motivated. I have also learned how neurodivergence affects a student's ways of learning, especially when it comes to languages. Sometimes the conventional knowledge of how we best learn doesn't apply the same way for neurodivergent people.
