Michael

Certified Tutor

I am a graduate of The College of William and Mary where I double-majored in Music and History. After graduating, I decided to continue my education in graduate school by combining my two majors and I am currently enrolled in an MA/Ph.D. program in musicology at Rutgers University. I am also currently a teaching assistant for an undergraduate course this semester at Rutgers (Introduction to World Music), where I am working with non-major undergraduates learning about ethnomusicology and non-western musics. While I tutor in many subject areas, I particularly enjoy History, Music, and Writing. All of these topics are integral to my graduate degree in musicology, and I love helping others to learn and enjoy those subject areas. In any kind of teaching environment, I find the best way to help a student is to give him or her the tool necessary to learn and do for themselves. So, instead of simply helping them to memorize information, enough to get by, I try to teach them ways to learn and comprehend the information for themselves and to assist in their studies even beyond the tutoring session or particular subject area. Also, I find that motivation is a key factor in studying and that finding what interests you about a subject or even an unconventional (but effective) way to approach a subject can instill that motivation on its own, giving the student the desire to move forward for him- or herself. Even though I spend a lot of time reading and writing in my own studies, I particularly enjoy doing so outside of them as well, reading different types of fiction (especially historical fiction) and other topics that interest me. I also love to play video games in my spare time.