National Tutoring Week Tutoring Reflections

The National Tutoring Association has proclaimed October 7-11, 2019 “National Tutoring Week.” As a Tutor with nine years of experience and a member of the National Tutoring Association, National Tutoring Week prompted me to reflect on how I came to be a tutor and my tutoring experiences.

I was living in the New York City borough of Queens in 2010 and needed a little extra income to help make ends meet. When I saw a Champion Learning Center advertisement for in home tutors for English Language Arts for seventh through twelfth graders, I applied.

Even though I had not studied English Language Arts and Math since I was in college,  I was an excellent student when I studied those subjects many years ago. I had I won both a Math award and an English award in high school and my college freshman Math Professor had recruited me in my sophomore year to help students with their freshman Math. I still felt competent and confident in both English Language Arts and Math and thought  that I could help young students in those subjects.

Although I had not studied English Language Arts or Math in decades, I had earned a B.S.,  M.Div. and a D.Min. and had taught Theology, Religion, and Philosophy as an adjunct at two different small liberal arts colleges. I felt comfortable teaching in an academic environment and reasoned that my English Language Arts and Math skills, combined with my teaching experience, would easily transfer to tutoring.

I was hired for the Champion Learning Center position I applied for and started tutoring students assigned me in English Language Arts and Math. While neither subject challenged me at the seventh through twelfth grade level, I enjoyed tutoring Math more than English Language Arts. When the tutoring position I was hired for failed to generate enough students to provide the extra income I was looking for, I explored other tutoring options.

I eventually started tutoring through WyzAnt, “a digital marketplace to connect students  to independent tutors.” WyzAnt connected me with students in my Queens neighborhood. I started tutoring high school students struggling and wanting to do better in high school math and to to pass the New York State Board of Regents Exams in Integrated Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2/Trigonometry. I experienced great success in helping my tutees bring up their grades and pass the Regents Exams. More importantly, I enjoyed working with these students and quickly discovered that most of the Math I had learned in high school and college readily came back with just a little review.

I eventually branched out and tutored undergraduates in Math, Theology, and Philosophy and graduate students in Theology and Philosophy. Although the work was not steady, part time tutoring through WyzAnt provided me the extra income I was hoping for. More importantly, the tutoring helped me stay intellectually active and gave me a great sense of satisfaction as I witnessed my students improving in their subject areas.

When I moved from New York City back to my home state of West Virginia I advertised my tutoring services through WyzAnt. I picked up a few students but did not find the demand I had found in New York City and was looking for more steady part-time income.

I responded to an advertisement from my local community college, West Virginia Northern CommunityCollege, whose Academic Support Center  at the Wheeling campus was looking for tutors. I applied to be a Math Tutor based on my high school and college Math background and experience tutoring high school and college students in Math. My B.S., M.Div., and D.Min, as well as twelve semesters undergraduate  adjunct teaching experience was icing on the cake. I was hired and for more than a year now have been tutoring undergraduates in Math two days a week.

That is me posing in front of
some of our resources in the ASC
of WVNCC Wheeling Campus.

Since starting as a Math Tutor in the Academic Support Center of West Virginia Northern Community College’s Wheeling Campus, I  have tutored undergraduates in Intermediate Algebra, College Algebra, Mathematics of Business and Finance, Pre-Calculus Mathematics, Technical Mathematics, Mathematics for Health Sciences, Mathematics for Elementary Teachers I, and Introduction to Statistics. I have tutored some students for only a session or  two and others once a week throughout the semester. I have even occasionally branched out to help students with specific questions related to Introduction to Astronomy and Applied Physics.

Because engaging in on-job tutor training is part of the responsibility of serving as a Tutor at West Virginia Northern Community college, I completed The Master Tutor: A Guidebook for More Effective Tutoring curriculum and am currently working through the nine video workshops of TutorLingo. West Virginia Northern Community College pays me for the time I spend training to be a better tutor.

While tutoring part time in the Academic Resource Center of the Wheeling Campus of West Virginia Northern Community College, I continue to tutor privately through WyzAnt. I am currently in my third year of tutoring a bright young student in Math. I began tutoring her once a week when she was struggling in Eighth Grade Algebra, tutored her through ninth grade, and am now tutoring her about once every three weeks as she is excelling in Tenth Grade Geometry.

Tutoring will never provide me with enough steady income to tutor full-time, but tutoring has helped me out financially and given me great personal satisfaction as I see tutees  gain confidence and self-esteem, increase their grade averages, and eventually pass  courses they were once struggling with. Tutoring still helps me stay intellectually focused and engaged, sometimes challenging me to research and master skills and theories I have forgotten or never learned.

Still Tutoring

I started tutoring over eight years ago. Since then I have tutored students as young as sixth grade and as old as graduate students. I have tutored students in math, language arts, chess, philosophy, and theology. I have seen students raise their grade twenty-five points and two letter grades while I tutored them.

I am currently tutoring two female eighth graders who have been struggling with Algebra. I also first encountered Algebra in the eighth grade so I have empathy for these two teenagers, but my eighth grade Algebra course was forty-six years ago!

I excelled in high school math, acing the most difficult courses offered, as well as an optional course in slide rule back when we used those stone aged instruments instead of calculators. I did so well in my first year of college math that my professor had me tutoring students in the course the following fall. While I have not taken a math course in thirty-eight years, I still remember enough math, love math, and have maintained enough math proficiency to enable me to help both high school and college students with Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Algebra II.

I tutor each of my current students between one and two hours a session once a week, one Monday evenings and the other Tuesday evenings, both at a public library. I love helping them better understand and finally fully grasp often difficult algebraic concepts, from PEMDAS to linear equations, and quadratic equations to FOIL. I have come to realize that public school teachers often do not have the time or resources to devote to struggling students but that an hour or two of one-on-one tutoring can make a big difference.

I am offering my tutoring services to anyone within more-or-less a ten mile radius of Wellsburg, West Virginia. That includes Follansbee and Weirton, West Virginia and Steubenville, Ohio. If you or a person you know might benefit from tutoring, please visit this link to arrange for sessions.

https://www.wyzant.com/match/tutor/77187020

Passing 20: More Ruminations on Tutoring

I recently passed the milestone of having had tutored twenty hours or more through WyzAnt. Not only do I now earn an additional 5% from tutoring fees and have a green 20+ hours medallion next to my name on my profile, I have gained the satisfaction of knowing that I have helped students improve their grades and prepare for standardized tests. I passed the twenty hours of tutoring milestone by tutoring three students. I am still tutoring one of these students, a ninth grader, in Geometry, helping him increase his Geometry grade as well as prepare for the New York State Regents. I tutored an eighth grader in Math, English and Chess, up until the time he was to take his state Math and English Language Arts Test. Relying on email rather than tutoring face-to-face, I also helped a seminary student write her first Theology paper.

Combined with tutoring through other services and on my own, I have now tutored over eight students ranging in age from seventh grade through graduate school, and have tutored well over 100 hours. Most of my students have been in the Ridgewood and Glendale neighborhoods of Queens and the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. I am willing to travel into Manhattan or anywhere in the five boroughs of New York City as long as the location is near a subway station.

I look forward to helping other students improve their grades and prepare for standardized tests, and earning a green 50+ hours medallion next to my name on my profile. I am well over half way to that 50+ milestone.

If you are interested in learning how you can tutor through WyzAnt, or if you want me or another WyzAnt tutor to help you improve your grades and prepare for standardized tests, just click on the WyzAnt hotlink.

Ruminations from a WyzAnt Tutor

Me, wearing my Doctor's (D.Min) Academic Hood

I only recently learned about the WyzAnt Searchable Database of Tutors Nation Wide and my WyzAnt account went active less than a month and a half ago. Since then I have secured two students. I have tutored three times for a total of five and a quarter hours, earning a little extra income. More importantly, I have already made a positive contribution to the lives and academic success of my students. Although I am certified in twenty subjects, I am currently tutoring my students, a seventh grader and a ninth grader, in Math. Eventually, I will also tutor the seventh grader in English and Chess.

I am restricting myself to students within a mile or so walking distance of my home in Ridgewood, NY, a neighborhood of the New York City Borough of Queens, in order to avoid transportation costs. This limits the number of students I can tutor but allows me to keep more of the tutoring fees I earn. While I would like to add another student or two, for now, I am happy with just the two I am working with.

Both of my students are above average. They live in good, stable homes. They need a little more individualized attention than they receive in public school, however. I am tutoring each one between ninety minutes to two hours, once a week or every other week, depending on our schedules.

The families of these students and I would not have connected without WyzAnt, and so far I am very happy with the service and support WyzAnt provides. I appreciate that there were no upfront costs. Other than the optional background check, which I paid for, I was able to begin tutoring with no financial investment or commitment. Being assured that clients have their payment information of file before I show up to tutor means that I enjoy the peace of mind of knowing I will receive payment for the tutoring I provide. Handling all initial email contacts through the WyzAnt site guarantees a certain amount of protection and anonymity up until tutoring actually begins. The direct deposit option means I do not worry about my checks being lost in the mail.

While I found some of the certification tests a bit simple, especially so in my strong areas, I also realize that one does not have to be a rocket scientist to help a teenager with their math homework or preparing for the New York State Regents Exams. Anyone with a few years of college, and especially an advanced degree or two, will certainly think the certification tests are easy. On the other hand, the tests do serve to weed out any potential tutors who have no knowledge of the subjects they desire to tutor.

I have already recommended WyzAnt to some of my colleagues looking for part-time work and income. I have posted WyzAnt Posters with my personalized code, available from WyzAnt, around the neighborhood. I have also distributed WyzAnt business cards, also with my personalized code and available from WyzAnt, to my students so they can distribute them to their classmates.

I look forward to finding more students, tutoring more subjects, earning more extra income, and, most of all, making a positive contribution to the lives and academic success of more students, thanks to WyzAnt.

Any tutoring I do through WyzAnt is independent of tutoring opportunities I find through other means.  So, if you or your child would like some indivualized tutoring in the privacy and convienance of your home, you  may respond to this post or sendme an email rather than going through the WyzAnt site.  Although I currently limit my WyzAnt tutoring to Ridgewood, I am willing to travel any reasonable distance accessable by subway or bus.  My current fee is $45/hr for a minimum of a one hour session, additional time available in 15 minute increments, for up to a three hour tutoring session.  I give a $5/hr discount to clients within a thrity minute walk of my home.