Hello y'all! My name is Shiva, and I'm currently a senior in the math department at Columbia University. Born and raised in Wyoming, I came from an education system where too many students end up dropping out to support their families before reaching high school graduation, and an even larger percentage behind state reading and math standards. As a result, I am keenly aware of the education discrepancies that affect marginalized communities disproportionately. That experience is a big part of...
Hello y'all! My name is Shiva, and I'm currently a senior in the math department at Columbia University. Born and raised in Wyoming, I came from an education system where too many students end up dropping out to support their families before reaching high school graduation, and an even larger percentage behind state reading and math standards. As a result, I am keenly aware of the education discrepancies that affect marginalized communities disproportionately. That experience is a big part of why I started tutoring in high school and never stopped!
Though I'm a math major, I was also a competitive speech and debate student, qualifying to NSDA nationals every year, finishing in the top 40 in Policy Debate my junior year, and winning Wyoming state champion titles in Extemporaneous Speaking and Policy. As a result, I know that I am well-qualified to tutor students in English and writing, especially anything argumentative in nature.
My tutoring philosophy is based on two principles: one, that empathy and understanding are vital to a healthy, safe, and welcoming learning environment, and two, that no two people learn information in the exact same way, and as a result, it is irresponsible to believe that the same method that worked for one student will definitely work for another. To that end, I always prioritize understanding how each of my students learns, whether that be through visualization of certain key concepts or using analogies to make sense of complicated ideas.
Finally, tutoring for me is not just an extra source of income (though that certainly doesn't hurt!), but a means to better my teaching skills. I'm currently an incoming math PhD student at the University of Minnesota, and I hope to become a professor at a liberal arts college. There, I hope to conduct research on math pedagogy and learning in addition to my other math research. Tutoring now gives me an incredible insight into how many ways there are to "learn" things, and I hope to build that insight for many years to come!
