I am the oldest of nine children in a home that emphasized lifelong learning. So, I had a lot of opportunities as I grew up to tutor my siblings, the youngest of which is almost 12. My educational experience includes private schooling, Montessori schooling, religious schooling, and traditional public schooling, so I also have experience with hands-on learning experiences in addition to traditional teaching methods.
I think my most memorable experience with tutoring my siblings came from...
I am the oldest of nine children in a home that emphasized lifelong learning. So, I had a lot of opportunities as I grew up to tutor my siblings, the youngest of which is almost 12. My educational experience includes private schooling, Montessori schooling, religious schooling, and traditional public schooling, so I also have experience with hands-on learning experiences in addition to traditional teaching methods.
I think my most memorable experience with tutoring my siblings came from tutoring my younger sister, who struggles with Dyslexia, when she was trying to do her math homework. The numbers kept mixing up in her head, and she was getting a headache from trying to think in numbers. As I began to help her see the numbers as artistic representations (such as a block for 1, two blocks for 2, etc.) she began to understand the context of the assignment to a greater degree. Today, she is doing significantly better in her Sophomore math classes than she did when she was struggling to visualize what the numbers represented.
In college, I did a lot of tutoring for friends. For one friend, I helped her with her music theory homework. For another friend, I gave her advice on her vocal technique between lessons. For countless other friends, I helped edit and proofread papers that were due to the professor in the near future. I have always done well in school, and while I might need a refresher course in one subject or another, I'm usually able to recall the information quickly.
As a member of such a large family, I have learned patience. I don't want to hurry students through the learning process. I want to make sure that everyone, especially the student, walks away from this without feeling pressured or frustrated by the learning process. It's different for everyone, and it takes different amounts of time to "get it" for different students. I try not only to help students learn the material, but also to learn how to give themselves credit because I firmly believe that every student is capable of learning anything