My Experience As A Tutor

In my interview I had the pleasure of conversing with an individual that was not only an adult learner but now also operates as an adjunct professor for adult learners at a university. Some might not realize the parallels of adult learners and yet still there are vast differences that impact both. It was refreshing to find an individual that was able to succeed as a professional, a student and most recently a professor at the same time. My goal is to introduce you my amazing interviewee and paint a vivid picture of his journey, his growth and through his challenges along the way. Surprisingly this interaction was able to take a lot of excuses and reasons of why a person would be to busy to go back to school.

Observable through students attending Mount St. Joseph, depict a lot of substantial feedback for these programs and has helped mold the level of elite education in this field of industry. Through the observations, Mount St. Joseph has one of the most modern and developed strategy of teaching this topic that is modified for each student based on the best ways for them to learn. Across the span of time, it is accumulated that students have evolved into more of a hands on kind of learning. In retrospect, Mount St. Joseph has associated its class work, and assignments with visual and hands on activities. After comparing notes of learning method scores with variations of master’s subject understanding and undergraduate subject

This semester, I was a teacher assistant for Dr. Finley’s psychology 101 course. The experience to TA has been a really valuable, and rewarding experience. I’ve definitely gotten the chance to develop skills in the professional context. The variety of tasks and the workload pace was very enjoyable for me. The opportunity of being a TA at times proved to be challenging but I find ways to successfully manage some of these adversities. Overall, there’s a plethora of things that I can take away, and I plan to utilize some of these tactics into my future goals and career aspirations.

Reflect on what you have learned in this course and discuss how it might influence your work as a professional

Knowles posits that adult learners are self directed and autonomous. They are goal oriented, practical and must see and understand the relevance of any training. Adults bring an abundance of experience and knowledge, experiential learning, with them. Most importantly, “…adults need to be shown respect.” (Lieb)

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is seeking a Program Coordinator to assist in the coordination of academic support services at Rutgers School of Nursing.

To be successful, you must be able to get a point across quickly and you must be able to do so in a way that you sound credible to your audience. This course fits in with my career goals because as a civil engineer designing bridges, I will have to communicate on a daily basis with my fellow employees, employers and clients. I have seen this in my internship with a civil engineering consulting firm, where the employees are constantly communicating with one another and their clients every

Upon entering the course for the first time I was interested in some of the details regarding proper usage of different mediums, such as when to use e-mails, personal notes, memorandum, etc, but I had little interest in more technical details. I had already passed such courses in the past and this one promised to be redundant. And in many ways it was redundant, general projects, such as tone, formality, and professional voice were all things I've had to use in the past and so wasn't concerned over learning. As with many things in life, its the subjects you don't know about to begin with that surprise you.

How do you think developing this course helped to develop your knowledge of pedagogy? How about of supervision? Were there surprises?

Over the course of this class I learned that tutoring can be defined as many different concepts; from being a helpful guide to giving students a step by step tutorial on what they need to do to complete the assignment properly. Some try the hands-off approach where they let the student take control of the tutoring session only helping when it is necessary, but otherwise just watching over the student. This got me thinking about how I would be as a tutor and the approach that I would take when guiding students with their assignments. Keeping all of this in mind, my tutoring philosophy would have a combination of being a hands-on tutor, but not doing all the work for the student. By this, I mean that I will guide them step by step with whatever

Deputy Sheriff, training officer, instructor, adjunct faculty, these are but a few of the hats that I wear in my daily interactions within the world of Adult Education. As a veteran law enforcement officer I was first introduced to adult education, after several years I would find myself on the other side of the podium. After serving as a field training officer for rookie’s graduation from Basic Law Enforcement Training (BLET) I would take on the additional role of teaching in the BLET program itself. The route I have followed to adult education is unique and non-traditional compared to my peers within the EdS program here at Appalachian State University. I have completed both my Bachelors and Masters degrees as an adult within the past ten years while working full-time. I currently teach several blocks of the BLET program as well as several sections of the Student Success course on the campus of Davidson County Community College.

My impression of adult education has changed immensely. First and foremost, the first lesson learned that teaching adults are a separate, intensive, and long debated process. Portions of certain theories learned illustrated below. I have extended knowledge about Meizrow (Transformational Learning) and Knowles (Andragogy). The six key features of Adult Learners are:

Gadbow believes it is the duty of adult educators to instill a life-long love of learning into their students, "helping adults learn how to learn is the most important thing a teacher ever does" (p. 53). The first responsibility of educators working with adults is to help them identify their learning styles and differences as well as other special learning needs, and then provide effective strategies to adapt to these individual learning needs (53). The author's contention that all learners are special means seeing the possibilities as well as the problems or particular needs of each student as they present themselves.

My philosophy of teaching is deeply rooted in nurturing the potential each and every student in my classes. Providing a creative environment that allows self assessment, growth, group interaction and mentorship are at its very core. Having taught in Higher Education for many years, and as an instructor of Media Arts and Animation, and Game Design, I have had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the brightest and creative young professionals. Teaching has not only broadened my love of art and exploration, but my determination to help students that do not have the confidence to persevere through their education, yet have the passion to follow their dreams.

Teaching is not just a job that I perform because I expect a reward at the end of each month; it is my passion and I feel extremely satisfied with every successful lesson. I like to help the society, and teaching gives me a great opportunity to do so. I am passionate about educating my students, so I work with them and motivate them to lead them to find inspiration in learning. I use different strategies to engage them and share with them the knowledge.