Teaching and tutoring give my life meaning and purpose.
Teaching subjects in which I have immersed myself enough to teach them confidently to others is something I have always done. When I was still in secondary school, I always helped my classmates with technical subjects such as physics, chemistry and mathematics. These were my favourite subjects, so teaching them gave me great satisfaction.
Formal tutoring in the business sense is something I only set up later, around 2012. It used to be "just a hobby" but since then I have realised that this is much more than that. It instils in me a sense of purpose. So in 2021 I decided to professionalise with my own website, my own digital learning environment and a dedicated tutoring room plus electronics workshop.
I set up the electronics in the room in the top photo before the lesson starts. The bottom photo is of my private workspace, which is very compact and sufficient for everything I have built so far.
Pictured are soldering instruments, tools and the circuit that watered my plants for ten days.
This is primarily maths.
I find maths one of the most fun subjects to be involved in. It makes little difference whether it is geometry, calculus, algebra or statistics. I think statistics is one of the most fun subjects because it is difficult and counter-intuitive. When I explain it and I see that the student begins to understand and master it, it makes my week.
I also tutor in various other subjects. As an autodidact, I have regularly acquired new skills over the years. In particular, I would like to mention: computer skills (office tools, programming and network management), English, creative writing, personal development and tutoring itself.
The students for English are often from abroad, from Scotland, America or Australia for example. These students have difficulty with the English language because they grow up in it, whereas if you learn it as an outsider you thoroughly go over all the rules.
I have always had a great affinity with my physics, chemistry and maths teachers because of a shared interest in the subject.
I can still remember the day when my physics teacher explained material to me that was way outside of the curriculum. This was a very good day.
Someone who has inspired me outside my own life is Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn with his book "The Gulag Archipelago". Since reading that book, I have definitely started to work harder, try harder and have developed an incredible sense of gratitude for the state of the world. The book paints a picture of how man has created hell on earth in the 20th century (in Russia and in Asia) and how every ounce of corruption and decay contributes to man-made suffering.
I also take this into account in my work: I always teach a student to ensure that they understand the material, and not just "to pass a test". I also blame the teachers for this behaviour, because I often hear that teachers are lax in this respect. It is therefore not surprising that there is so much demand for tutoring!
The most important competence that a teacher must have is the degree to which he lives by the will and desire to make the student understand the material. This is the principle that serves and accomplishes the purpose of tutoring, and education in general.
The teacher's activities and behaviour should be an expression of that ideal, constantly considering what aspects, routines and resources need to be improved. Someone who teaches for money, for fun, or just to help people brush up for a test will never teach as well as someone who lives out this core value.
This includes important qualities such as having empathy, being patient, being able to adapt your language and developing appropriate learning materials.
I also think one of the nicer qualities is being a good host. Make sure the classroom is in order, give a warm welcome, ensure an orderly and structured lesson, provide the necessary supplies (notepad, pen, but sometimes electronics, breadboards, etc), and put the student at ease.
The best experience I have had in teaching is explaining material that was outside the students' books at the time.
In secondary school, trigonometry (waves, sine, cosine, etc.) are explained and tested as something completely separate from Pythagoras' theorem (triangles, abc formula, etc.). However, these two topics originate from the same theory. You can argue that these two subjects are exactly the same. That's what I did at the time and the students were on the edge of their seats because nobody believed that I could prove that waves and triangles are the same thing. Those two worlds were completely for the students. It could not be.
I had never experienced the sincere attention of my pupils as strongly as I did then. Everyone was silent, eyes on the board, and when I finished explaining, they all had a deeper understanding of both worlds.
I once did the same with deriving the abc formula for parabolas. I live for experiences like these.
My educational path started at the pre-vocational level, after which I attended the pre-polytechnic and finally the pre-university levels of education.
At the pre-polytechnic level, I omitted French. At the pre-university level, it was a subject on my final exam: I was very happy that in the end I got a 4 out of 10 instead of a 3 out of 10. Since then I have not interacted with French or German. English and Dutch are my primary languages, and English more than Dutch.
Much more interesting is my situation regarding statistics. I couldn't understand probability and statistics. I always got 3's and 4's (out of 10) which I had to compensate with algebra, calculus and geometry etc. Then one day I decided to really sit down and just do it. In one week, I spent 60 to 80 hours on statistics, probability and hypothesis testing only.
Did I understand more after that week? No. What was the grade on my next test? A 9! And after that an 8. The high marks kept coming for this subject. I saw that I had become more capable, that I could do it, but I had yet to understand it. Only later, after a great deal more practising, I also got the insight as to why my operations worked and why what I was doing was correct.
Mathematics is an activity, something to do. A human being is much more than that little piece of mind we call consciousness. That is what I learned from that experience. Much later, I was able to apply the same principle to actuarial mathematics. This was an even greater challenge, but I learned to understand it for the same reason.
Well, is there anything left to say after all of the above? Yes there is!
Okay, besides my passions for maths, statistics and education, I have a number of other things I like to do. Firstly, I am an autodidact. I learn what I need for the projects I work on. In addition, I suspect I have ADD, so that's quite a few projects.
In 2020, I learned Blender for modelling a recumbent bike, and I learned to weld to build the bike. It is now (2021) half finished. For this project I also set up a workshop in my attic. Other projects include a wakeup-light (it works), a light box above my kitchen sink (super happy with it) and small web applets for personal use.
In the images on the right: the top image is the design of the bike in Blender. Below is a picture of the bike as it is now. The blue part of the frame is finished, the front wheel is in place and the rear wheel can easily be mounted. The metal of the bicycle scrap doesn't want to bind to the iron tubes, which slows down the process.
I'm also fond of (board) games. I have a whole room full of 'em and regularly have to make room for new games. Solitaire games such as Wingspan are not for me. Role Playing Games such as Eldritch Horror, on the other hand, or something simple like Drop-It are a lot of fun. I have also created a few games of my own, for example, a game using Rory's Story Cubes.
Once in a while, I'll have a vegetable garden. In 2017 I had made a watering system because I was going on holiday for 10 days. After 10 days the plants were still happily growing. After the construction of my workshop, the space is much more limited and the gardens are in the window sills.
I really enjoy cooking, especially because good food is so enjoyable. I'm satisfied with how well I can cook, and I'm regularly told that I should learn/start to cook in a restaurant, but I don't think I'm good enough for that (yet).
If I were to list everything that interests me, this interview would be several pages long. In any case, I will mention my most important and ongoing project: my own personal development. I have found and developed a number of measuring tools with which I can keep track of how well my days are going regarding my goals. Among other things, I have personality goals, and every year that I measure my personality (big five) I get closer to where and who I want to be. Other people have shown an interest in my work, so since 2021 I offer guidance in personal development.
From what I have experienced, it is a combination of two main characteristics.
Firstly, my passion for teaching my favourite subjects. Secondly, my ability to teach. The feedback on my learning materials and the reflections on the classes I provide help me to hone my skills and to understand what works and why.
It pleases me greatly to see a pupil succeeding in working towards their own goals.