¡Do not let math or physics defeat you! As a graduate from a Physics bachelor's I have a great mathematical knowledge, and I have experience as a university and high school teacher. Do not doubt to co

Find out more about Juan Sebastián

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  I developed an interest in math and physics when I was in school because the exercises were a challenge for me, and I had a lot of fun doing my homework. I loved these subjects and my teachers were awesome at explaining them, which increased my motivation to learn more each day. Also, I remember that I liked to read the guidebooks on these subjects, and I liked to help my classmates to understand the different topics.
  
  Concerning private tutoring, during my career I gave private lessons to a kid who was not understanding math. He was in the school in 9th grade, but his enrollment at the school was at risk because of his low grades in math. We did 3 lessons per week for three years and I am very proud that he had an excellent score on the test that is presented at the end of the 11th school year. Moreover, his enthusiasm and will to learn math increased, so I was very proud of him, and I realized that private tutoring is a very useful tool that can help people to achieve their goals. Therefore, I wanted to put my knowledge to the service of people that have some trouble understanding subjects that I can teach.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I teach all of the topics related to math, physics and the Spanish language. I can handle basic, intermediate and advanced topics, so I love to discuss all of them with all kinds of students, from children to adults. If I do not have deep knowledge or if I do not remember the totality of a specific topic, it is not difficult for me to review it from the books or the material that I gathered during my career.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  My math teachers at the school inspired me because all of them were excellent teachers. They had patience and they encouraged me to learn with love and guidance. Also, from 9th to 11th grade, my physics teacher was excellent, too. He explained some difficult topics without effort, promoting curiosity in me about them and inspiring me to solve all the tasks that he gave me. In summary, my teachers during my school time were my inspiration to learn and, for me most important, to teach.

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  I think that the qualities required to be a good tutor are patience, compromise with the student, constancy to develop learning programs during long periods, the ability to break difficult topics into simpler forms, good communication, and the will to listen and give all of you to make your student learn.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  When I was in 6th grade, I had a chemistry subject with a teacher that scared me. This fact combined with my lack of interest in the subject was not a great combination. I remember that I was one of the worst students and my teacher was not very happy about that. One day, I was involved in plagiarism, and my teacher discovered that in front of all my classmates. I was embarrassed, but at that instant, I changed my mind. From that moment onwards, I read the book before the chemistry class to participate and demonstrate to my teacher that I was now compromised with learning and giving all of me to learn chemistry. My teacher noticed that and she congratulated me because at the end of the school period, I had one of the best grades from my course. From this experience I learned that compromise and will to achieve my goals are very valuable qualities that could help me during my lifetime.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  I faced difficulties during my university time. I was pursuing two bachelors, one in Physics and the other in Geosciences. My academic load was more than I could handle, and I had not enough time to perform well in all of the subjects. I even could not sleep enough, but I was very competitive and I compared myself with classmates that could handle this same academic load. The outcome was that I had two bad grades on tests and I was going to fail the Quantum Mechanics course. In the end, I could pass the course, but I did not learn deeply all of the topics. This is an anecdote to learn that I do not have to compare myself with others and that I need to be equilibrated to save time to sleep and to learn without a lot of pressure. If I do not do that way, I forget about the information that I supposedly learned easier.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  I am very passionate about teaching whatever topic that I have a profound knowledge of. I enjoy noticing how people learn following a constant process, realizing that they can learn anything if they have the will and they spend time to achieve that. Also, I love to play tennis, so I try to spend half of my time teaching math, physics and Spanish, and half of the time playing tennis.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering this interview questions :-P)?

  What makes me a Superprof is my discipline, my will to teach and to be committed to my students, my thinking that people can learn anything with good guidance and compromise, the patience and constancy to follow learning processes, and the love that I have for teaching and for sharing with people that want to learn what I teach.