Tutor in North Miami Beach, FL 33160

I began my teaching career (lo these many years ago) as a Big Brother in the Boston area. I didn't know it at the time, though, as I thought the experience was just an interesting bit of community service I was doing until I got into law school. By the time I was finished with graduate school, I knew I wanted to be a teacher (and I was finally able to see that my experience as a mentor in the Big Brother program was the planted seed). Some 20 years later, I look back over the wonderful experiences I've had in several independent schools in Boston, Providence, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, and now Miami and think, "I wouldn't have it any other way!" My students (both in the classroom and the several dozen private students I've tutored over the years) respond to my teaching/tutoring/mentoring because I am still a student at heart. I read all the time, particularly non-fiction (though E.A. Poe and E. Hemingway are two of my favorite authors); I especially like to read books that have something unique, even counter-intuitive to offer (e.g., Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond or The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz). Last summer I bought an 88-key electronic keyboard, found a piano teacher online, and took my first music lessons of my life (or at least since the recorder in elementary school). Every (or every other) summer I travel to Central (Mexico, Costa Rica) or South America (Brazil) to volunteer and practice my Spanish or Portuguese language skills. In the classroom, with my 4th or 5th graders, I like to work side-by-side with my students, reading what they read, writing as they're writing, solving extra credit problems with them, answering the trivia questions they bring to the table. My classroom is a fun, creative, dynamic, friendly, challenging (not "high stakes") place to be. I bring this same spirit of enjoyment and challenge to the work I do as a tutor.