The best tutor is one who aims to not be needed

Derek M.

I started teaching in the Fall of 2016 as a Supplemental Instructor for an undergraduate political statistics course that I had finished the previous spring. It was here that I first learned that just because I understand concepts doesn't mean that I'm able to explain them to others. I still enjoyed helping others learn though, and so when I arrived at an Engineering Course for the Army and they needed volunteers to be the academic officer, I stepped up and got experience teaching material that I was learning on the fly. After graduating from this course, I wanted more formal education experience so I served as a full-time SAT tutor for one year where I helped 20 students improve their SAT scores.

When I first began tutoring students, I'll admit I had mixed feelings about it. However, this changed once I had a student look up at me from a reading passage and say "this could all be nonsense and I would have no way of knowing." At that moment I realized he was critically thinking and the impact I was having. I enjoy teaching students how to think rather than what to think, as that is a skill that lasts a lifetime. Although the thing I enjoy most is sparking a student's curiosity and seeing where it takes them. Answers to questions are rarely conclusive, and I love to motivate students to pursue these questions to their heart's content.

In addition to having tutored for over 500 hours with 20 students (primarily for the entire SAT), I believe that knowledge is always worth pursuing. While I still tutor the SAT and occasionally an ACT student, I prefer tutoring writing, logic, grammar, and reading comprehension.

One of my favorite philosophers is Socrates, if only for this quote: "The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing". I tell my students that I don't know anything; instead, I just think that I do and I assume the same for them.