Congrats to Acakid’s August TOM!

This month, we chose Maxwell Cloe as our Tutor of the Month. He graduated this year with a BA in both English and American Studies, and is currently back at William and Mary to complete his Master’s Degree in American Studies. Maxwell has been tutoring with us for more than two years now! Maxwell is an extremely creative and kind tutor. We are very proud to have him be part of our team!

We interviewed Maxwell to learn more about his strengths, interests and more:

1. What are your strengths as a tutor?

I really try to prioritize understanding my students’ unique personalities and interests. Every student omes from a different background and has different strengths and weaknesses.  When you know how people learn and act, you can more effectively adapt your own teaching style to fit!

2. How have you grown as a tutor over the years?

I’ve learned to not be nervous when meeting a new student. The key is to be confident in your ability to teach and your students’ ability to learn. Students respond to the energy that you bring to the lesson; when you’re confident and excited, they will be too. 

3. What do you work on with your students?

All sorts of topics! I’m personally very interested in American history and English, so any task related to reading or writing is right up my alley. I also have a lot of appreciation for math and science (particularly chemistry), so I love to teach those subjects when I can. With the student that I’ve been teaching the longest, I help him to improve his knowledge in all of these areas so that he can better contribute to his class discussions.

4. What are their goals and how are you working on accomplishing them?

My students are often incredibly curious and want to know methods, facts, and ideas that are beyond the scope of their classroom. I try to do research on these topics myself so that I can supplement the knowledge that they’re learning in school.

5. When have you been extremely proud of your students?

 I’m always incredibly proud when my students correct me on something that I got wrong. One time, I was working on a tricky math problem that had a lot of steps. Once I had solved the problem, my student pointed out that he had gotten a different answer, and that I had multiplied in one spot where I should have divided. He was completely right and I was impressed that he wasn’t afraid to correct his tutor, which can be scary for some students.

6. What do you enjoy about working with Acakid?

I love the flexibility of AcaKid and my students. If an emergency comes up and I need to reschedule, it is often not a problem at all!

7. What are your hobbies and passions outside of Acakid?

I love to play bluegrass music on my violin. I also often go on hikes, read books, and go canoeing.