Pierre

Certified Tutor

I am a graduate of Grand Valley State University with a major in biology, a minor in mathematics, and a provisional teaching certificate for secondary education (grades 7-8 all subjects; grades 9-12 biology and math). I also have advanced degrees in biochemistry, physiology, cell and molecular biology. While a graduate student at the University of Illinois, I taught introductory and advanced courses in biology as a teaching assistant. I am passionate about biology, or shall I say, the study of life. As a scientist in the biotech industry, I used my math and chemistry skills daily.

My teaching/tutoring style is to impart enough information and understanding of a topic to direct a learner toward self-education and problem solving. My style is not to provide the answer, but to guide one in knowing how to arrive at the answer. This approach has served me well in my professional career, as well as in my personal life. I find myself always challenged with learning new things, and self-learning is the key. For example, to advance my professional career, I took an online course in statistics. In my personal life, in order to become a better coach to my sons baseball team, I went to the web and studied videos on fielding, batting, throwing and pitching, and used this knowledge to run practices and develop players. My professional career has been in biotech, where I have been a mentor and trainer to colleagues, and an educator and resource to customers toward understanding the application of advanced technologies. Also, as part of my professional career, I had the opportunity to live in France and to further develop my French language skills. After moving to the US from Montreal, I took French language classes to continue to develop my grammar. As an adult, I lived in France for two years and received a Diplome de Langue Francaise avec mention assez bien (high honors) through Alliance Francaise. I enjoy sharing this language and culture with others.

I am looking for new students who are eager to learn, and who want to develop their own learning skills. You may be struggling with a subject, but with time, patience, practice and a tutoring approach geared toward your learning style, you will succeed, grow confident, master a subject, and become a self-learner.