Philip

Certified Tutor

I have several years of experience with one-on-one tutoring and teaching in small-group settings. I began tutoring when I attended Bridgewater State University, as a writing tutor working with fellow students at the university's Academic Achievement Center. I advised and assisted my peers in a variety of different fields, disciplines, and writing styles, including academic, technical, and creative writing. My sessions with these students covered all parts of the writing process, from brainstorming and thesis statements, to word choice and sentence structure, to final revision. This experience has helped me cultivate an understanding of common issues students face in essay writing, as well as the conventions and levels of writing ability and insight that instructors expect.

Currently, I volunteer as a religious education teacher at my local parish church, where I teach small classes of middle school students. This experience has widened the range of grade levels and learning styles I am familiar with and has also allowed me to take a more directive role in teaching, prompting me to devise innovative and engaging lesson plans and activities to help my students both comprehend and become invested in the curriculum.

The combined and nuanced teaching experience from both my college tutoring and religious education classes has brought me to appreciate the role of tutors as a learning guide and companion. I consider myself a fellow scholar to the students I work with before I consider myself an academic authority to them, as I have seen that this helps to increase interest in and motivation for learning and encourages these students to explore and develop their personal strengths and perspectives on material.

In my own time, I enjoy reading and writing, the outdoors, and volunteering. I am active in my church and participate in local study groups. I try to stay consistently active and productive, and I am very family- and community-oriented.