PrepNow Tutor - William P.
William has always admired his family for their service: his parents are attorneys, and his grandparents work as a nurse and a teacher. The examples of those around him have filled William with a sense of duty to serve others. Perhaps it is not surprising, therefore, that in addition to tutoring through the National Honor Society, in high school William formed his own private tutoring program, one through which he continued to tutor in college. His college of choice was Georgia Tech, where he earned a BS in physics with a concentration in astrophysics.
As he was working on earning high honors in the physics department, William worked both privately through his own program and officially for the Georgia Tech Physics Help Desk. In these capacities, he tutored multiple subjects: math, including algebra, trigonometry, geometry, pre-calculus, AP calculus, AP Statistics, multivariable calculus, and differential equations; and physics, including AP Physics, electromagnetism, and classical mechanics. In addition, he helped private students in SAT test preparation. Finally, his first job out of college was (and is) as a lead instructor for a national tutoring company; in this capacity he has worked with students in many areas from kindergarten to grade 12 and where he has added even more ACT and SAT test-prep experience. Indeed, William is walking firmly on the path his family forged.
William tutors through the belief that there is no single perfect way to teach a subject, topic, or method. To him, everything is dependent on the context of a student’s strengths, needs, and experiences. He says, “Trying to perfect an explanation or demonstration divorced from the context of the student receiving it is a recipe to construct a perfect explanation for oneself, not one crafted for someone else.” In order to avoid this trap, William strongly emphasizes strategic questioning of students as well as building connections with them. He seeks to provide students the guidance and practical skills with which they can continue to learn past his time with them. He notes, “Ultimately, I want my students to be able to use everything I teach them when I’m not there, and I want to avoid fostering dependence or learned helplessness.”
Outside of work, William has always had many interests. In high school, he was a star on the debate team, helping his team win several competitions with perfect scores. Back then and still today, he is an energetic gamer, loving titles such as Tekken and Street Fighter. He is, in fact, working on developing his own platform fighting game. Finally, William’s skills also trend toward the practical, as he likes tinkering in soldering, woodworking, and metal fabrication.
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