Academic Mentor/Tutor for Bright Middle-School Student

We are UW Madison SMPH faculty, looking for a patient, energetic, and creative UW–Madison student to work one-on-one with our bright middle-school-aged son, who is intellectually capable and learns quickly when engaged, but has significant challenges with attention, task initiation, frustration tolerance, and persistence. We are looking for someone who enjoys figuring out what motivates a child and can make learning feel achievable and engaging. This is more than a conventional tutoring position.

The ideal person will build a positive mentoring relationship while helping with homework, reading/ELA, writing, organization, and study skills.

Ideal candidate

• Enjoys working with adolescents and is patient and emotionally steady
• Is energetic, creative, and able to adapt when an approach isn't working
• Has an interest in special education, school psychology, educational psychology, rehabilitation psychology, education, or child development
• Experience with ADHD, autism, learning differences, executive-function challenges, or behavioral/attention difficulties is a plus
• Is dependable and interested in a consistent, longer-term commitment

What you would do:

• Help him initiate tasks and break challenging work into manageable steps
• Develop creative strategies to increase motivation, attention, and persistence
• Use positive reinforcement, humor, movement, interests, and other individualized approaches to maintain engagement
• Help him develop greater independence and confidence with academic work
• Adapt your approach when something is not working rather than simply pushing harder
• Build a positive mentoring relationship and help him experience academic success

This could be an especially rewarding opportunity for a student considering a career in education, special education, school psychology, or a related field

Please send a brief introduction including your major/program and year, relevant experience, why this position interests you, and your general availability.

email fmalik5@wisc.edu or fardina.malik@gmail.com, ph: 917-499-9151

We are looking for someone who sees this not simply as a tutoring job, but as an opportunity to help a bright young person overcome barriers to learning and build confidence and independence