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My journey of being a peer educator started in March of 2017, when I volunteered with Pipeline Project at a tribal school in La Push, WA. This very first teaching adventure was transformative for me: being a geography instructor for the eighth graders for a week makes me appreciate more of being a student at University of Washington (UW). Eventually, this Alternative Spring Break (ASB) project opened the door of being a math tutor with department of mathematics.

 

The best way to learn something is to demonstrate it to others in an accessible way. Understanding what the students need and their intelligent level of learning is essential for the preparation of course material, which I failed to do so at my initial attempt. Due to the lack of experience, I assumed that my students were at the similar level of the eighth grader in China, and they would have been able to comprehend several advanced terms in geography. I was shocked when I saw confusion from theirs eyes as I was mentioning the location of Mexico and California. I was quite unprepared for this: they had little exposure of the basics of this subject, because of the scarce education resources. Compare intensity of learning at Quileute Tribal School at La Push, and University of  Washington, I appreciate the resources and opportunities that UW offers. For instance, the Center for Social Science Computation and Research, where I can use enormous packages of statistics computation tools, over nine hundreds of clubs that enrich my social life and pursue my interests, and various mentorship programs such as UW-Amazon mentorship program, which I can build up my professional network and broaden my horizon. I realize how lucky I am to have the privilege to study here and unceasingly advance myself.  

 

With the previous experience in teaching, I perfected my style of tutoring as one of twenty undergraduate math tutors at Math Study Center in the Fall quarter: I was more caring for my students, thoroughly provided definition and theories rather than just answers; I was better at dealing with emotions that associated with arcane math homework, such as frustration and disappointment. Gradually, I became more connected with my students: I turned into an active listener, whom they can share their ups and downs with. Seeing lot of familiar faces during my work, and applying what I have learned to tutoring is quite rewarding. When a student came in with a challenging double integral, and I guided them to solve it in an innovative way, I felt more accomplished and excited than my student! Because math is my passion, and I can always learn something novel, or have a better understanding on the same material when walking through them with a student.  

 

I am thankful for these two husky experiences, which connect the dots of the “input” and “output” of knowledge. Learning and teaching is a two-way street for acquisition of knowledge and development of a competent husky.