I'm starting a PhD in political science this fall, and I've been tutoring and teaching in some form for the past seven years, working with students anywhere from 1st grade up through college. Most of that experience is one-on-one, though I've also done small group work and spent time as a Teaching Assistant at George Washington University, where I ran discussion sections and graded student writing and problem sets for undergrads.
The TA role is probably most relevant here. I spent a lot of...
I'm starting a PhD in political science this fall, and I've been tutoring and teaching in some form for the past seven years, working with students anywhere from 1st grade up through college. Most of that experience is one-on-one, though I've also done small group work and spent time as a Teaching Assistant at George Washington University, where I ran discussion sections and graded student writing and problem sets for undergrads.
The TA role is probably most relevant here. I spent a lot of time explaining statistics concepts (regression, hypothesis testing, interpreting results) to students who were intimidated by the math side of things, and just as much time working with students on their writing, from helping them figure out what argument they're actually trying to make to cleaning up structure and clarity in a final draft. I've found that most students who struggle with stats aren't bad at math, they just haven't had it explained in a way that clicked yet, and that's usually what I'm solving for.
With younger students in reading and writing, my approach is different. It's less about concepts clicking and more about building comfort and consistency, since a lot of early struggles come from kids feeling behind or embarrassed rather than an actual skills gap. I adjust a lot depending on who I'm working with, but the constant across all of it is that I'd rather spend time making sure someone actually understands something than just getting them to the right answer for one assignment.
