James - - Eureka
James - - Eureka

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James

  • Rate TSh 132,250
  • Response 1h
James - - Eureka

TSh 132,250/hr

Experienced tutor in Environmental studies in Eureka, James offers private lessons tailored to your needs.

Lesson location

    • Online

About James

I have a Master's in Environmental Science and Management and a BS in Geology, and I have been teaching and tutoring both subjects to high schoolers and college students alike for over 8 years.

Outside of teaching, I also have several years of work experience in environmental science, which helps me bring real-world examples and significance to my lessons. For the past 4 years, I have been working for an environmental consulting firm at which I specialize in helping companies measure and reduce their environmental impacts. Before entering environmental consulting, I worked as a researcher for the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB), and as a teaching assistant for 3 courses in the Environmental Studies Department at UCSB. I have also worked in habitat restoration (where I led many volunteer crews and students) and in solid waste management for the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Even as an undergraduate I worked as a teaching assistant for 3 courses in the Geology department at SUNY New Paltz (Physical Geology, Mineralogy, and Hydrogeology), as a tutor for Physical Geology (college-level) and Earth Science (high school level), and as a researcher in Geology department, where I conducted 2 years of research on the impacts of slope failures on the water quality of New York City's Ashokan Reservoir.

I have lived and breathed earth science and environmental science for over 10 years, and I love sharing my knowledge and passion with others.

Well, I started teaching guitar to other kids in my neighborhood when I was 14. Then I started teaching a couple of dozen guitar students a week at a local music store when I was 16.

I liked teaching and working with kids so much, that during my first semester at college I got a job as a counselor at an after-school youth center, where one of my roles was to tutor students and help them with their homework. I would continue to work there throughout the rest of undergrad, but my sophomore year I also started tutoring fellow college students in the courses I was taking (calc, chem, physics, and various geology courses) - partially because I was a broke college student, but mostly because I love teaching. By my junior year, I'd also started tutoring high school students in Earth Science and AP Environmental Science, and I had become a teaching assistant within the Geology department itself. I continued tutoring both privately and at the youth-center until I moved to California for graduate school.

Throughout grad school, I became a teaching assistant for 3 different Environmental Studies courses. I taught three sections per week, developed my own course material, made powerpoints, lead discussions, and group exercises held office hours and review sessions, and graded thousands of quizzes, tests, and papers - all on environmental science.

I have loved every teaching and tutoring experience I've had and enjoy sharing my knowledge and passion for environmental science. And teaching environmental science is my ultimate long-term career plan. However, all of my favorite teachers growing up were the ones who also had "real-world" experience in their field, so I wanted to do the same first. So since finishing my Master's in Environmental Science four years ago, I have focused a bit more on working directly in environmental science - as a researcher, a habitat restoration leader, and primarily as an environmental scientist for a consulting firm working to help companies become more sustainable.

But as much as I love getting the chance to work on real environmental issues myself through my job, I increasingly miss teaching and tutoring. 



- Master's in Environmental Science and Management

- BS in Geology (concentration Environmental Science)

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About the lesson

  • All Levels
  • English

All languages in which the lesson is available :

English

For me, I have found that the most crucial step with a new student is figuring out the particular learning style that works best for that student (e.g. visual, auditory, etc.) For example, I am very much a visual learner myself, and I became much more successful in college and grad school once I embraced my learning style. Instead of beating myself up about not retaining enough from lectures and readings, I started making charts, graphs, and diagrams of the material because I realized that I learned and retained information better that way. Suddenly school became fun and easy because I figured out what worked for me. Through years of being a teaching assistant and tutor, I have realized that the same lesson of playing to your learning style was just as important for all my students, but the most effective style is different from one student to the next. Figuring this out early on with a new student helps me tailor all of my lessons to that student's particular style. I have developed different exercises for each learning style for all of the AP Environmental Science material. I have some sort of visual ready on each topic for my fellow visual learners, I have mnemonic devices and lecture-style explanations ready for my auditory learners, and I have readings and writing exercises ready for the more linguistic learners. And then some students tend to do best with a mixture.

In addition to their learning style, I like to find out what a new student is passionate about early on. This helps me tailor lessons to their unique personality and interests and helps them open up. If the student is passionate about aspects of environmental science itself and wants to go into a related field, this helps me emphasize real-world examples that are relevant to their interests and goals. And if the student is not interested in the subject itself, it helps me draw parallels and analogies to things which they are more passionate about, and try to make it more interesting to them. For example, if they hate science but love history, and we're learning about, say soils or water quality, I can tie in examples of civilizations which have collapsed due to soil and water degradation.

If a student is part-way through a course, as is common, another thing I like to find out right away is where they're at with their learning so far - i.e. which sub-topics they're struggling the most with and need the most help with. This is especially important so we don't skip any of the topics which may have already been covered in their class but which the student did not gain a thorough understanding of, but it is also important so I do not waste the student's time going into too much detail in the topics which they do understand thoroughly.

Once I have determined where the student is in their comprehension of the course material so far, what they're passionate about, and how they learn best, then I like to dive into the material itself and the rest tends to just flow naturally because I am so passionate about the subject.



- 5 years as a counselor and tutor at an after-school center (Ages 11-18)

- 3 years as a teaching assistant to undergraduate college students in Environmental Science and Geology (~Age 18-22)

- 2 years tutoring high school students specifically in Earth Science and AP Environmental Science (Ages 15-18)

- 2 summers as an outdoor education instructor for a summer camp (Ages 7-10)

- 6 years as a one-on-one guitar teacher (Ages 3-76)



Look for someone who will be accomodating to your needs and your learning style, and who is a specialist in that subject and has a deep passion for that particular subject, as opposed to a generalist who is trying to tutor any and every subject that they can find a paying student in. In other words, look for someone who has the experience to teach the subject, the passion to inspire your interest in that subject, and the empathy to care enough to incorporate your own interests and needs into their teaching and give you the support you need.



My daughter just started walking yesterday. I know I should probably choose an event that is more relevant to my teaching/tutoring experience, but that was pretty awesome so it's on my mind at the moment.



A few things worth thinking about before reaching out
1. How do you learn best? For example, do you retain the most when you read an article, hear a lecture, try to explain a topic to someone, or see a diagram?

2. Which topics in the course are you struggling with the most?

3. What inspires you in school?

4. What is your favorite course? What is it that you enjoy about that course?

5. When do you feel frustrated in school?

6. Do you need more help with comprehension or motivation?

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  • TSh 132,250

Pack prices

  • 5h: TSh 660
  • 10h: TSh 1320

online

  • TSh132,250/h

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$15/half-hour

$25/hour

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