Note: the contents of this website are historical, from a stretch during 2019-21. One of these days I’ll take it down.
Partnering for accountability, critical thinking, decision-making, and collaboration in learning
Pandemic life has given many students some catching up to do. I supportively build confidence and executive functioning practice as students do their work. This is generally remote/Zoom but can also be Boston-area in-person time. I offer individual and group academic tutoring and support, particularly in middle and high school writing, social studies and English, and middle school math.
INDIVIDUAL OBJECTIVES
- Catch up on critical subject-area learning
- Build confidence and independence
- Focus on organization and thoroughness
“That sort of assignment is perfect in my opinion… hands on, critical thinking, with a chance to demonstrate the project to peers.”
– We Learn To Grow parent
COLLABORATIVE PROJECT-BASED CHALLENGES
More ambitiously, I am here to strengthen the young person’s engagement with the world outside while learning and creating, providing a weekly structure of project assignments and motivating peer and teacher interactions, working with students on motivation and facing challenges.
One offering you might consider is bringing together small groups of friends and grade-level peers in a combined in-person and remote format, centered on Destination Imagination‘s awesome student-directed project-based learning projects. Check out these challenges!
Students choose a collaborative technical, engineering, scientific, fine arts, improvisational, or service-learning challenge that begin in August and continuing through regional competitive rounds. This is a way to draw on and charge up a young person’s motivation and meaningful interactivity.
GROUP OBJECTIVES
- provide frequent opportunities for meaningful engagement in collaborative learning
- motivate student participants to be regularly accountable to the group
- encourage self-expression and opportunities to apply critical thinking
- offer verbal ‘formative’ feedback, opportunities for self-reflection and peer assessment
Group work can maximize the social and learning benefits of existing peer and friend networks. During pandemic remote schooling, I held Zoom-based enrichment groups that were effective at combining socializing with friends and a trusted adult with learning activities geared to student interests.
He’s consistently said how much he enjoys the class and especially the regular interaction with his friends and a teacher, something he has missed these past months.”
– We Learn To Grow parent
FEATURES
- Synchronous online or in-person meetings (Boston area)and asynchronous project-based learning
- Grades 5-8 (variety of subjects) and 9-12 (social studies, English, arts & humanities)
- Small groups of 4 to 8 students, ideally those who already know each other (parents, talk to others you know to form a group!)
- Elements can be flexibly adapted (frequency, subject material, learning goals)
- Curriculum geared to state standards and can be related to schoolwork or not
- Minimizing screen time to the extent possible
- Collaborating teachers provide a wider range of subject expertise
If interested in individual or group support, please email Nate at nate@welearntogrow.com , call 617-899-3136, or complete the form at the bottom of this page.
“[My son] needs regular contact and is very much enjoying the work you are assigning!”
– We Learn To Grow parent
TEACHER
NATE BINZEN – SOCIAL STUDIES, ENGLISH, DIGITAL ARTS
I have taught History (Massachusetts 5-12 certified) and Psychology for the past five years, mostly for grades 9-12, including at the International School of Boston and in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program (American International School in Egypt). I also teach adult English Language Learners for Somerville Public Schools. I have a Masters in Theology (science-and-religion studies) and have taught in prisons as well as elementary and middle schools. After moving back to the States in Sept. 2019, I substitute-taught in Arlington and Somerville, MA before switching to remote learning during the pandemic. Before teaching, my career was in marketing communications and research. I am a believer in project/inquiry-based learning, dedicated to making learning relevant and engaging.
IF YOU’RE INTERESTED…
Please contact me to specify your interests (email nate@welearntogrow.com or call 617-899-3136), and I’ll be in touch asap. If emailing, please let me know your name, your student’s name, what kind of learning you’re interested in, and student’s grade level and school.
“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
William Butler Yeats