Peter

I have a B.A. in Liberal Studies-Teacher Education from Dominican University of California, along with 24 years of experience teaching Kindergarten-12th Grade as a: tutor (13 years), lead teacher (11 years), substitute teacher (9 years), and teaching assistant (4 years)--in public, independent private (co-ed, and single-sex), parochial, cooperative, immersion, and charter schools. I tutor students from 1st-12th Grade in all academic core subjects (English Language Arts, Math, History/Social Studies, and Science). I am also an avid practitioner of differentiated academic instruction and I have proudly upheld project based learning all throughout my career as an educator.

Tutoring Style

I enjoy showing students the beauty of the academic concepts they learn. I deliver my instruction through a call-and-response methodology. I ask students questions pertaining to the academic content at hand by relating what they are learning to elements of everyday life and have them draw their own comparisons and realizations. I encourage students to connect what they are learning to their own interests to make new discoveries as they take in knowledge through hands-on experience. Overall, I emphasize the importance of correlating elements of different academic core subjects to help widen the spectrum of knowledge and enhance student understanding of what they learn.

Success Story

I once tutored a high school student all the way from 9th-12th Grade including the summers in between. She started out struggling academically due to her having had undiagnosed learning disabilities and not blending well with the more traditional public school curricula. I was able to teacher her using effective outside-the-box methodologies that best reflected her individual learning needs and style while helping her feel better about her overall academic outlook. In the end, her GPA increased considerably; she received admission to college, and was able to pursue an academic major that combined her own dreams with those of her family while overcoming personal challenges on the side throughout the process. The business relationship that that student and I developed over that 4-year time period of our working together remains the most profound connection that I have ever made with a student as a tutor to date.

Hobbies & Interests

I am a very creative person in general. I write regularly, and am the published author of multiple published nonfiction books. I enjoy listening to music, watching educational television programming, reading, and going to the library. I have a YouTube channel featuring multiple playlists of categorized educational videos. I like taking walks and spending time with my beloved girlfriend and our adorable orange tabby cat, Desmond. I also follow the news regularly.