Patrick

I possess a rare combination of math, language skills and practical experience that allows me to teach a wide variety of subjects. I have a bachelor's degree in history from State University of New York at Buffalo and a master's degree in liberal studies from Stony Brook University. I have tutored grades PreK-College for more than a decade.

My tutoring style:

Education is never a “one size fits all” process. Every student has his or her own unique strengths and style of learning, so I adjust my approach to suit each student’s particular needs. My clients and students often praise me for my patience and my ability to help them understand content better than their classroom teachers have.‍

Success Stories:

I once had the honor of tutoring a brilliant student who suffered crippling anxiety over math.  We worked on ACT prep.  She was already scoring nearly perfectly on the reading and science sections, but when it came to the math, she would lose all her confidence and even visibly tremble.  I soon realized that the problem wasn’t that she couldn’t do math, but that she believed she couldn’t do math because she was a girl.  I needed to dispel this notion – so I developed a customized learning plan for her.

I applied a nurturing strategy of positive reinforcement.  We started with easy questions to build her confidence.  Eventually, these problems came easier to her.  As her confidence improved, her anxiety slowly diminished.  I gradually increased the difficulty level – making sure not to discourage her by moving too quickly – until she gained the courage to challenge her phobia head-on.  In time, she managed to overcome her fear and improve her math score enough to reach her composite score goal. As a result, the Ivy League school she wanted to attend accepted her!

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Back when I traversed Long Island to tutor in person, I allowed clients to split my fee between small groups. In the first of these groups was “Chris.” We worked on each subject of the SAT, reviewing questions and going over strategies. In the end, Chris and his friends improved their scores by more than 300 points! Chris’s mother was so grateful that she hired me three years later to work with her younger daughter. At that time, I learned that Chris was thriving at his dream school – excelling at both his academics and on the lacrosse team!

Hobbies and Interests:

I am a bit of a history buff, and enjoy trivia and reading about historical events. I also like watching baseball and other sports, was an athlete at one time and now have a son very involved in sports, so I can relate to student-athletes and their busy schedules. Also, I enjoy music and have a background in musical and stage performance.

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