My name is Mutasem A., a current 2nd-year student at the University of Virginia studying Computer Science. I started tutoring at my Sunday school in Fredricksburg, VA, helping young children and teenagers with their math (Algebra I and II), science (Chemistry), and language homework. I chose to tutor these subjects because I felt that they were the strongest and most interesting topics that I had encountered. Being an advanced student in all STEM subjects, I was confident in my ability to...
My name is Mutasem A., a current 2nd-year student at the University of Virginia studying Computer Science. I started tutoring at my Sunday school in Fredricksburg, VA, helping young children and teenagers with their math (Algebra I and II), science (Chemistry), and language homework. I chose to tutor these subjects because I felt that they were the strongest and most interesting topics that I had encountered. Being an advanced student in all STEM subjects, I was confident in my ability to tutor a rather large range of topics; I gradually decreased my focus area to start offering more in-depth tutoring lessons in Geometry and Calculus to more advanced middle and high school students.
From then on, tutoring has been more than a volunteering or job-based activity; it is about meeting more people and developing their skillsets as well as my own. My methodology extends further than the subject material. I not only aid in mastering the topic of choice but lend insight into relieving the stressfulness, the anxiety-filled atmosphere that surrounds the course material. Through my years of tutoring, I have learned that a positive, confident mindset translates into a comfortable understanding. Learning how to alleviate the intimidation of the subject is 90% of the hardship that surrounds effective learning. The last stretch of such anonymity is resolved through repetitive practice whilst maintaining a tranquil mindset. My presence as a tutor is, therefore, to provide this calm atmosphere and go through the journey of disciplined practice in order to reach a state of confidence.
As a student, I relate to the uneasiness that many of us experience with school. Whether a high school/college student or a returning GED student, tutoring does not only offer a practice mate, but rather someone to share those academic problems with-- acting as a peer and a teacher.
At my Sunday school, I committed 185 hours of volunteering to approximately 20 students that were subdivided into focus groups, receiving and lending help on the
