Dynamic Biology Tutor with 12+ Years’ Experience Teaching Biology, Microbiology, Genetics, Evolution, SAT, ACT, GRE, and MCAT

Find out more about Christopher

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  I began tutoring during my sophomore year of college as a means for supplementing income and to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subjects I was studying. Almost immediately, I developed a passion for trying to understand and complement students with diverse learning styles and perspectives. To me this is the greatest challenge of tutoring, how do you adapt your teaching methods to provide an individualized approach that can maximize the growth and success of all students you get to work with? This differs from standardized teaching models, whereby the instructor presents information to a large group containing many different personality types and learning styles, then applies a single test to try and demonstrate comprehension. Tutoring has a distinct advantage that allows us to change and adapt our approaches according to the needs of an individual student at any given time, which greatly improves outcomes in terms of academic performance but also, more importantly, it improves critical thinking abilities and confidence as they progress through their academic careers and continue on to post-graduation endeavors.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I have worked to develop proficiency across most of the K-12 curriculum as well as college level STEM, Social Sciences, standardized test preparation, reading comprehension, and writing. Early on in my tutoring career, I noticed that students would often have to find multiple tutors to meet their needs and they would have to change them up frequently whenever their schedule changes. This causes a significant disruption to the bonds formed between students and their tutors and makes it much more difficult to find good student/tutor matches as they are constantly being reset. Many of my students will use me for all their subjects and we work together for their entire K-12 and college educations. That being said, I do have a preference for the challenges presented by STEM and standardized test preparation and if I had to pick favorites those are the subjects I enjoy most. I also place an emphasis on philosophy, time management, goal-oriented planning, and organization skills development, as I find these skills to be overlooked in the K-12 system but extremely important for my students' success in their academic careers and beyond.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  During my college career, I was fortunate to have many great teachers that lit a fire for my curiosity and inspired me to put in maximal effort for my courses. Two that stand out most are my Statistics and Calculus professor Sean Rule and my Biology department chair Patrick Ball. Sean is a deeply loved professor at Central Oregon Community College for his ability to connect with students of all backgrounds, as well as his outgoing and quirky personality. He is the drummer in a local punk rock band and has been teaching mathematics for more than 20 years. He creates all his materials from scratch and is incredibly generous with his personal time, allowing all students to get one-on-one help and providing easy to understand explanations when they are struggling with material. Pat has been teaching Biology for more than a decade and acts as the unofficial guidance counselor and primary professor for all Biology majors at Oregon State University - Cascades. He uses a conversational style in his classes that had a significant impact on my teaching philosophy, which revolves around the notion of a Socratic dialogue format between teachers and students. His classes showed me just how effective it can be to use a conversational format to demonstrate the critical thinking process for students, allowing them to make connections on their own, rather than just reciting information and having students regurgitate it on a test.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  In my experience, the best tutors are ones who are most adept at understanding and adapting to different personality types and learning styles. It is important for students and teachers to trust each other and have a high level of comfort, as the process of learning can invoke feelings of vulnerability and frustration. A good connection between teacher and student can help to relieve these anxieties and makes for an optimal learning environment. I also place a massive emphasis on a Socratic dialogue style of teaching, which uses conversation and structured questioning that empowers students to make connections and insights on their own. This contrasts with traditional teaching methods that rely heavily on a large group lecture format in which information and insights are recited and then regurgitated using a combination of assignments, quizzes, and tests.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  This is a specific anecdote from my days as a student in Chemistry, but I think it demonstrates the frustrations many students can encounter in STEM, while also showing the greatest strengths of personalized tutoring. During my general chemistry courses, I had conceptualized the electron as a finite thing, something that could be seen, held, and represented in space with a little dot, as that is how my textbooks demonstrated it in their models. Only once I started Organic Chemistry did I learn this conceptualization was completely wrong, and I quickly spiraled into feelings of self-doubt. If I don't understand what an electron is how could I possibly get through Organic Chemistry? This experience taught the limitations of models, the need to be adaptable in your learning, and the value of working with someone who can detect and correct misunderstandings early on. Working with a tutor during my general chemistry course would have allowed me to prevent this misunderstanding before it was formed and would have greatly improved my confidence for Organic Chemistry.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  Since I tutor in a diverse range of subjects for students from across the country for K-12 and college the biggest challenge I face is staying up to date with different teaching standards and principles. Even though there is great overlap in the material covered for STEM, there is also a consistent portion of the material that varies between instructors, institutions, and regions. This continues to be my biggest challenge in tutoring but it also keeps the profession feeling fresh and rewarding.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  Generally, my passion stems from a desire to help people and live a good life, which primarily takes the form of teaching but also includes every aspect of my day-to-day living. Tutoring is a direct and immediate way in which I can help students during a major stage of their life, and it is something that I have become adept at, so it is the outlet that encompasses most of my time. I also enjoy most outdoor activities like backpacking, camping, biking, hiking etc. and I love working with animals so I will frequently volunteer at our local Humane Society here in Bend.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering this interview questions :-P)?

  During my 12 years of tutoring, I have developed a skill set around the Socratic method of dialogue which allows my students to make conceptual breakthroughs and insights on their own terms rather than just having information recited to them and then regurgitated. I place an immense emphasis on my ability to empathize and adapt to my students' individual learning styles and perspectives, which makes for an optimal learning environment. I've also trained myself in many subjects throughout the K-12 and college curriculums so that my students will not have to seek out new tutors frequently, which allows for long lasting connections to form and improves overall learning outcomes. These three aspects are my greatest strengths and when combined make me a Superprof.