More about me

About me:
Born in Chicago and educated at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I started my teaching career in Israel, first when I worked as a volunteer teaching children with disabilities, as well as an English tutor.  I then worked in a private company in Tel Aviv teaching the GMAT, GRE, and the SAT.  I worked to create a curriculum that would prepare students for the rigors of standardized testing and became intimately with the format and style of standardized tests, including the Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs).

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When I returned to the US, I earned my MA in philosophy and then became certified to teach physics and math in Maryland and Virginia.  As a teacher, I worked in both public and private schools, including religious schools, and became familiar with the curricula of the local school districts (including MCPS, FCPS, and PGCPS, as well as DCPS).  While doing all of this, I continued private tutoring in many subjects with a wide variety of students, from elementary school children to college students to adults, including many students with learning disorders and other disabilities.

 

Why and how I got into tutoring:

It might be hard to believe, coming from a licensed physics and math teacher, but I almost failed 8th grade.  I didn’t have any disorders or functioning problems – I was just lazy and unmotivated.  Fortunately, my parent hired great tutors to help me get going, and with a lot of work, I was able to finish 8th grade, and, eventually, college.  

I even became a teacher myself, because I wanted to inspire and teach students.  I’ve taught and tutored many types of students, from 5th graders to high school students to adults.  I’ve helped people learn many subjects, but more importantly, I’ve learned a great deal about why people have trouble with math and science.  Although those topics come easily to me, I can appreciate the difficulties that my students have.  Algebra, physics, even fractions – these things are very abstract and they can be pretty tough!

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My approach to tutoring:​

First of all, I try to see it from the point of view of a typical student.  Here's how a typical teenager will talk about learning:
"What did you do in school today?"

"Nothing."
"What did you learn today?"

"Nothing"

 

Or:
"Do you understand what you've learned?"

"Yeah" (even if he doesn’t)

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Or maybe this:

"Here, do this."

"I can’t" (which often means he doesn’t want to try or he is too scared of getting it wrong)

 

Teenagers, more than anything, want to not be embarrassed, and that makes them afraid to push the limits of their abilities, and afraid to go above and beyond just filling in the blanks and crunching the numbers.  But this is what math and science ask you to do, especially the harder levels, like physics and calculus.  

Another problem is that many students today have become dependent on calculators and computers to do the work for them.  They don’t see that this hurts them and makes them less able to do the math and think conceptually.  When you add to it an education system that thinks that it is doing students a favor by making things easier, you get students who graduate without having strong math and science skills.  They are often glad to leave it behind and hope they will never need that stuff again.

Unfortunately, this is a problem because, as anyone who has ever had to balance a checkbook, understand mortgage payments, or help his kids with a science fair project can tell you, math and science are necessary.  Moreover, they are beautiful, but they never learn to see them that way, because they stumble early on, and later, when they don’t understand the harder subjects, come to resent them.  It’s not only a shame, it’s debilitating.

The fact is that I have personally encountered very few people who genuinely cannot do math and science - most people have at least some aptitude for it, and I think that many people can even come to like and appreciate them.  But in order for a student to get to that point, he needs a teacher that is empathetic and patient, and willing to pull that ability out of his student.

That’s where I come in...

 

What I do and how I do it:
I dig down to the foundations of my student’s abilities - to see what he understands and what he does not, even if it’s something covered in elementary school.
I observe how he works and does problems.  Even little things, like how he moves his hands and his breathing patterns, tell me whether he gets it or not.
I put him at ease so that he is willing to admit when he doesn’t know something, and guide him gently to the answer.

What I won’t do for my students....

I won’t pretend that what they are learning is easier than it is
I won’t make them reliant on calculators or computers
I won’t tolerate lack of effort and laziness
I won’t coddle them or promise miracles    

I will put my students at ease and help them see that they can understand the material

....And what I will:

I will teach them new tricks and techniques to help them solve problems
I will work with them in a friendly and patient manner
I will encourage them to tell me honestly if they don’t understand something
I will get them to learn