What kind of tutor does your child need? What do you hope your child will gain from working with a private tutor? Do you think your child's academic struggles reflect problems isolated to specific kinds of material? In my experience, many academic difficulties stem first, from a lack of confidence, and second, from overly rigid classroom environments that do not permit (let alone teach) each student how to approach material from a new direction, one that might be more suitable to that students particular skills and strengths. Sometimes, approaching old material with a fresh perspective allows a student to make connections and grasp difficult concepts and themes that previously appeared difficult and inaccessible to them.
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Merry Zide. I grew up in New York City and I have a BA in Philosophy from Brown University. I relocated to Austin when I became a graduate student in the History Department at UT-Austin. Having been a teaching assistant at the college level, I am fully versed in grading standards and I can help my students perform at their highest possible level. I can offer tutoring in American history at any level, from elementary through college, but the bulk of my experience working in Austin has been as a reading and writing tutor.
Learning how to read critically and write clearly tends to improve academic performance across the board; students with strong reading and writing skills can absorb and communicate information effectively, even when they are not entirely familiar with the material. I have learned that mastering these basic skills is as important for college and graduate students as for elementary and high school students. In my experience, most students (especially in high school) struggle with reading comprehension; once they get a handle on the best way to absorb information, they become more effective students in any subject. This is especially true of students with learning disabilities (e.g., ADD/ADHD), whose grades tend to improve as they become more confident in their ability to absorb material.
I can help students expand their vocabularies, polish their writing skills, and I can also offer strategies for fast and effective reading comprehension. I have a few very effective strategies to improve reading skills, especially in preparation for writing papers and taking essay tests. Any tutor will tell you that, as far as standardized tests go, the most challenging area for students to improve on is in reading comprehension; I can offer reading comprehension strategies for testing, as well as strategies that will sharpen a student's reading skills in general. My hidden agenda is to make reading pleasurable enough and easy enough that my students see the value of reading outside the classroom. Pleasure reading is the key to academic achievement; this is not just my opinion as it is borne out by other studies.
Finally, my tutoring philosophy hinges on my belief that there is no such thing as a stupid question. My goal is for each student to leave a session feeling less stressed about and more capable of accomplishing whatever task they have before them. I am a student myself, so I am still dealing with some of the same stressors as younger students. I can sympathize with a heavy workload, and can offer strategies for how to get a painfully heavy workload done.
Please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you and hope I have the opportunity to provide whatever help you need.
If you would like a more formal description of my employment history and tutoring experience, please click here or on the link entitled "About Merry" at the top of the page.
Learning how to read critically and write clearly tends to improve academic performance across the board; students with strong reading and writing skills can absorb and communicate information effectively, even when they are not entirely familiar with the material. I have learned that mastering these basic skills is as important for college and graduate students as for elementary and high school students. In my experience, most students (especially in high school) struggle with reading comprehension; once they get a handle on the best way to absorb information, they become more effective students in any subject. This is especially true of students with learning disabilities (e.g., ADD/ADHD), whose grades tend to improve as they become more confident in their ability to absorb material.
I can help students expand their vocabularies, polish their writing skills, and I can also offer strategies for fast and effective reading comprehension. I have a few very effective strategies to improve reading skills, especially in preparation for writing papers and taking essay tests. Any tutor will tell you that, as far as standardized tests go, the most challenging area for students to improve on is in reading comprehension; I can offer reading comprehension strategies for testing, as well as strategies that will sharpen a student's reading skills in general. My hidden agenda is to make reading pleasurable enough and easy enough that my students see the value of reading outside the classroom. Pleasure reading is the key to academic achievement; this is not just my opinion as it is borne out by other studies.
Finally, my tutoring philosophy hinges on my belief that there is no such thing as a stupid question. My goal is for each student to leave a session feeling less stressed about and more capable of accomplishing whatever task they have before them. I am a student myself, so I am still dealing with some of the same stressors as younger students. I can sympathize with a heavy workload, and can offer strategies for how to get a painfully heavy workload done.
Please feel free to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you and hope I have the opportunity to provide whatever help you need.
If you would like a more formal description of my employment history and tutoring experience, please click here or on the link entitled "About Merry" at the top of the page.
Click to set custom HTML
