Samantha
Certified Tutor
I have a love of learning, and enjoy instilling that love within students. I believe all students are capable of learning and should be held to high expectations, as they are more likely to achieve success when goals are set and students are encouraged.
I have been teaching for 7 years now. I taught 2 years in Indiana, teaching high school special education. I taught resource Biology, resource classes for study skills and homework help, and I co-taught for language arts. After being laid off in Indiana, I moved to Arizona, where I began teaching in Phoenix. I taught 7/8 grade for one year and then moved to 6th grade, within the same school. I teach special education: math and writing, including co-taught math within the general education classroom.
As I said, I love to learn. I earned my Bachelor's degree (2008) from Ball State University (in Muncie, Indiana) and have recently earned my Master's degree (2015) from Walden University. Proudly, I had a 3.6 GPA in my Bachelor's and a 4.0 in my Master's. Although I teach special education, I have a desire to help all students. I currently host after school tutoring on the 6th grade campus for which I work, and I enjoy working with general education students as much as I do with students who have special needs.
I currently teach sixth grade, but when I am not teaching I enjoy playing tennis, reading, cooking, baking, hiking, and making jewelry.
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Undergraduate Degree: Ball State University - Bachelors, Special Education, k-12, Mild interventions
Graduate Degree: Walden University - Masters, Special Education
Reading, tennis, playing with my dog, making jewelry, baking, cooking
- College English
- Elementary Math
- Elementary School Math
- English
- English Grammar and Syntax
- Essay Editing
- High School English
- Homework Support
- ISEE Prep
- ISEE- Lower Level
- Math
- Middle School Math
- Other
- Pre-Algebra
- Special Education
- SSAT Prep
- SSAT- Elementary Level
- Study Skills
- Study Skills and Organization
- Summer
- Test Prep
What is your teaching philosophy?
I believe that all students are capable of learning and achieving success. Not only do I strive to build knowledge of students, but also to create a comfortable, welcoming learning environment where students feel comfortable to try their best and not be afraid of failure.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
During the initial session with a student, I would like to get to know the student, building a rapport. I would also like to do some preliminary assessment by teacher-created problems or reviewing past data collected on student achievement.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
Students become independent learners by understanding the reasoning behind education and how it can affect their lives, both negatively and positively, depending on the effort they give and the practice they engage in during school and outside of the classroom.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
The best way to motivate students is to get them interested in the subject matter they are learning and building confidence through praise and encouragement.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
If students have difficulty learning a concept, I find it helpful to bring back the learning to real-world understanding. How would the student use the knowledge in their own lives or in the future? After putting learning into perspective, offering various explanations and modeling correctness is beneficial to student learning.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
When students are struggling with reading comprehension, it is important to teach the student to read the text for important information relating to the questions asked, or to summarize while reading to find the main ideas in the passage/story. Highlighting key words and general statements can be helpful, as well as using close reading strategies such as underlining, circling, writing in the margin, etc.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
The best way to get students engaged in learning something they may struggle with is to give them a taste of success. When students are more confident in themselves, they are more likely to be engaged and give their best effort without fears of failure. Offering encouragement and also relating learning to daily life are ways to increase engagement as well.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Asking additional questions of the student or requesting the student put the answer in their own words is a great way to gauge knowledge or depth of knowledge. If the student can become the teacher and explain his or her response or reasoning behind an answer, they truly understand the material.