Let's be honest: The current system doesn't work for everyone.
When I was in first grade, my mother, who was admittedly awful at math, told my first grade teacher that I was not allowed to use a calculator; I had to put the fundamentals safely in my toolbox before I ever could use a mechanical crutch. This lesson has stuck with me ever since.
I began teaching when I was very young; I found myself with an inquisitive mind and interest in many fields--interest that continues to this day. At the age of 11, I taught beginning viola for my community's summer music program when I myself only had 2 years of experience playing the instrument. At that point I only really understood the basics of the instrument and of orchestral music as a whole, and when tasked to give younger children lessons, I simply taught those fundamentals. I found that this built my confidence as a musician, as a mentor, and as an educator because I saw that nearly every concept could be broken down to the basics, and if a person's understanding was strong at the lowest levels, then his or her understanding of higher level concepts could be built.
A couple of years later, my career as a teacher and tutor was solidified when I started tutoring my peers in Algebra I. My teacher, who was a wonderful woman, was out for an extended period with an injury, and though our long term substitute was a nice guy, he didn't have the ability to really convey the information or address individual needs. I seemed to grasp concepts such as the distributive property and polynomial multiplication much quicker than other kids in the class (in no small part, I believe, because of my mother's insistence that I never feel as though I could/should rely on a piece of equipment other than my brain), and I found myself able to break down concepts to those fundamentals in a way that allowed me to reach these other kids one-on-one with alternate explanations and examples. I began staying after school, using an empty classroom and chalkboard that a language arts teacher loaned me to emphasize the day's lessons. What started out as a couple of friends lingering after school soon became a regular rotation of 10+ kids dedicating time to extra practice and asking questions in a comfortable environment.
These two very formative early teaching experiences have shaped my current teaching philosophy. I approach my teaching with a strong desire to see my students build a strong mental toolbox and succeed. In math, this means not relying on calculators to do arithmetic while also knowing how to use the calculator, adding to that toolbox. It also means sometimes teaching out of order because, unlike the formulaic way the American educational system teaches math these days, math as we know it is not linear nor were the concepts we study developed that way. In writing/English, this means a strong understanding of grammar and punctuation as well as process writing. In history, this means approaching the material with an understanding that nuance exists and the people we discuss were real; they lived complex lives just as we do, and if we treat history like a story rather than just names and dates, we might learn to understand ourselves and our world a little better. In music, this means knowing both the fundamentals of music theory and musicianship and never losing sight of the enjoyment and meaning one can derive from the arts. I provide all of my students, regardless of area of study, with mind games and puzzles such as sudoku and logic problems to help build analytical thinking, and I try to always attach real world examples to whatever concept I am working with.
I also approach teaching with a sense of empathy and humanism. I love learning, and I want to see others love it too. I provide a supportive, low-stress environment that I flatter myself to try to base off of Aristotle's Lyceum. We have a task or concept at hand to learn, and I try to consistently provide context and real world applications. I want my students to never feel as though they are doing busy work, and I want them to feel comfortable asking questions and exploring knowledge of all types.
While I stress knowing concepts on a deep level, I also know the tricks that can help jog the memory, reduce anxiety, prevent errors, and give test-takers the boost in scores they are looking for. Post-graduation from Dartmouth College, I taught the SAT full-time for a boutique company for close to a year, and in all, I have close over 15 years test-prep experience. Whether you or your child is looking for help on a problem class, extra support for an IEP, or standardized test training from a seasoned professional, I work to combine strong subject knowledge with these tricks of the trade and study skills to yield optimal results.
-Ashley Caval
I began teaching when I was very young; I found myself with an inquisitive mind and interest in many fields--interest that continues to this day. At the age of 11, I taught beginning viola for my community's summer music program when I myself only had 2 years of experience playing the instrument. At that point I only really understood the basics of the instrument and of orchestral music as a whole, and when tasked to give younger children lessons, I simply taught those fundamentals. I found that this built my confidence as a musician, as a mentor, and as an educator because I saw that nearly every concept could be broken down to the basics, and if a person's understanding was strong at the lowest levels, then his or her understanding of higher level concepts could be built.
A couple of years later, my career as a teacher and tutor was solidified when I started tutoring my peers in Algebra I. My teacher, who was a wonderful woman, was out for an extended period with an injury, and though our long term substitute was a nice guy, he didn't have the ability to really convey the information or address individual needs. I seemed to grasp concepts such as the distributive property and polynomial multiplication much quicker than other kids in the class (in no small part, I believe, because of my mother's insistence that I never feel as though I could/should rely on a piece of equipment other than my brain), and I found myself able to break down concepts to those fundamentals in a way that allowed me to reach these other kids one-on-one with alternate explanations and examples. I began staying after school, using an empty classroom and chalkboard that a language arts teacher loaned me to emphasize the day's lessons. What started out as a couple of friends lingering after school soon became a regular rotation of 10+ kids dedicating time to extra practice and asking questions in a comfortable environment.
These two very formative early teaching experiences have shaped my current teaching philosophy. I approach my teaching with a strong desire to see my students build a strong mental toolbox and succeed. In math, this means not relying on calculators to do arithmetic while also knowing how to use the calculator, adding to that toolbox. It also means sometimes teaching out of order because, unlike the formulaic way the American educational system teaches math these days, math as we know it is not linear nor were the concepts we study developed that way. In writing/English, this means a strong understanding of grammar and punctuation as well as process writing. In history, this means approaching the material with an understanding that nuance exists and the people we discuss were real; they lived complex lives just as we do, and if we treat history like a story rather than just names and dates, we might learn to understand ourselves and our world a little better. In music, this means knowing both the fundamentals of music theory and musicianship and never losing sight of the enjoyment and meaning one can derive from the arts. I provide all of my students, regardless of area of study, with mind games and puzzles such as sudoku and logic problems to help build analytical thinking, and I try to always attach real world examples to whatever concept I am working with.
I also approach teaching with a sense of empathy and humanism. I love learning, and I want to see others love it too. I provide a supportive, low-stress environment that I flatter myself to try to base off of Aristotle's Lyceum. We have a task or concept at hand to learn, and I try to consistently provide context and real world applications. I want my students to never feel as though they are doing busy work, and I want them to feel comfortable asking questions and exploring knowledge of all types.
While I stress knowing concepts on a deep level, I also know the tricks that can help jog the memory, reduce anxiety, prevent errors, and give test-takers the boost in scores they are looking for. Post-graduation from Dartmouth College, I taught the SAT full-time for a boutique company for close to a year, and in all, I have close over 15 years test-prep experience. Whether you or your child is looking for help on a problem class, extra support for an IEP, or standardized test training from a seasoned professional, I work to combine strong subject knowledge with these tricks of the trade and study skills to yield optimal results.
-Ashley Caval