Daniel
Certified Tutor
I graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Biological Sciences in May 2015 and plan on going to Physician Assistant school in the next few years. While as an undergrad at ASU, I worked for the College of Letters and Sciences as a Writing Fellow, where I TA'd for online English 101 and 102 classes. Being an English TA while studying Biology might seem somewhat odd to people, but besides being interested in the sciences I have a passion for writing. I've written three novels of carious genres (thriller, murder mystery, and horror) and hope to get them published someday.
My approach to tutoring is to help ensure that the student has a solid understanding of the fundamentals of what they're learning. While it may be possible to get through a class by memorizing seemingly disjointed facts, students will have a much easier time learning and remembering information if they understand why it's important in the first place, and how it relates to other things they've learned in the class or things they might know from their day to day lives.
Connect with a tutor like Daniel
Undergraduate Degree: Arizona State Universtiy - Bachelors, Biological Sciences
Yo-yoing, reading, writing, video games, board games, pugs
- Anatomy
- Anatomy & Physiology
- AP
- Biology
- Cell Biology
- College Biology
- College English
- College Essays
- Conversational French
- English
- Essay Editing
- French
- French 1
- High School Biology
- High School English
- Languages
- Microbiology
- Other
- Science
- Writing
What is your teaching philosophy?
Things a student memorizes they will forget quickly. But things that they understand they will remember forever. When working on concepts the student is struggling with, I try to tie the concepts back either to concepts they've already previously learned in the class, or to things they may intuitively know from their lives. If they understand why something is the way it is, that makes it so much easier to remember.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
The biggest thing a tutor or teacher can do for a student's academic career is to help the student learn how to learn. There are a variety of different tools a student can use to try to learn material, and some of them are more appropriate than others depending on the situation. For a student to become independent, they need to learn what these tools are, which ones they best respond to, and what situations they work best in.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
If a student can explain in their own words (not just parroting back what the book says or what I've said), then they already have a solid grasp of the material. The real test comes if they can answer challenging questions as they walk through the concept, showing a deeper understanding of the problem.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
The first step is to go over what concept the student is struggling with, and to determine if the problem is with the new material, or if the student doesn't fully grasp a fundamental concept from earlier that would make understanding this new concept significantly simpler.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
If a student can see how much progress they have already made on their learning, and see how they already understand concepts they once saw as foreign, then they will remain motivated. If they did it before, they can do it again.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
I would try to find a way to relate it to something they find interesting in their lives outside of school. This could involve sports or film or games or anything they might enjoy.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
By having them explain the subject on their own and back up their explanations with the reasoning behind them.