"My name is Jose. I have been teaching Mathematics for 40 years. I am a veteran of the United State Marine Corps. After serving honorably for four years, I attended college at the State University of New York at Albany and earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Mathematics, a Masters degree from Columbia University Teachers College in Mathematics Education. My teaching experience is diverse. In my final eight years of teaching high school and middle school, we were able to increase the student pass rate from 7% to 81 % in the years since the inception of our focus on tutoring and effective teaching practices.

I believe in individualizing teaching to meet the student’s style. I usually select the starting point for our first session in one of two ways: one is by reviewing the diagnostic completed by the student, or the second is with the student bringing specific areas of concern in the subject matter. To explain the material in a way that captures the student’s understanding, I try getting acquainted with the students’ interests. This provides data on student interests that activates the brain in a way that allows the teacher to explain the material so that the student can process the mathematics within the schema of what they already know. For example, sports, music, video games, etc. I use this information to explain mathematics in the context of these interests. Once the student starts to develop confidence in working on the problems, I then start to scaffold instruction as a gradual progression to higher levels of difficulty.

I have tutored students in basically all mathematics subjects from Pre-Algebra through Calculus 3.

My tutoring background also includes the SAT Math, Statistics, Physics and Chemistry. Teaching is my calling and I find great satisfaction and joy in seeing the students understand the mathematics and improve their confidence in working on math problems." less...