Why did Teachers Who Tutor | NYC open in LA?

 

After a decade serving students, schools, and families in New York, Teachers Who Tutor is excited to have expanded to Los Angeles! 

We chose Los Angeles for a few reasons: because of the large population, because of the spectacular teachers, and because there were no other tutoring companies whose tutors were all classroom teachers with master’s degrees. That said, perhaps most important to our decision to open in Los Angeles as opposed to, say, Miami or Washington DC, was that Benjie Messinger-Barnes was already located in Los Angeles.

For nearly a decade, Benjie was one of the very best tutors working with Teachers Who Tutor in New York City. As a math teacher and then the head of the math department at the prestigious Friends Seminary school in downtown Manhattan, Benjie’s reputation as an educator and administrator was known across New York. Mention his name to anyone who has crossed paths with Benjie and watch their eyes light up with how much affection and admiration they have for him.

As a tutor, Benjie understands how important relationships are between students and teachers, and he manages to balance–on one hand–kindness, respect, and humanity with–on the other–a multitude of pedagogical approaches that allows Benjie to differentiate teaching methods depending on the background, skillset, confidence level, and learning styles of his students. 

Benjie has worked in the classroom and individually with students from fifth through twelfth grade, demonstrating as much passion and expertise with younger students who need help with basic numeracy as he does with high school seniors seeking to potentially pursue a career in math. 

Students adore Benjie, are inspired by him, and under his tutelage work hard both because he teaches them in a clear, straightforward, enjoyable way, and because they are excited to show him how much his work with them pays off. When Benjie speaks with parents about their child’s strengths, areas of improvement, and goals for the future, they see how much he cares about the math specifically and their child’s progress generally. In Benjie they always have a true partner in their child’s growth as a scholar and person.

The decision to open up a Teachers Who Tutor in LA with Benjie at its helm was easy: Benjie is as strong a leader as he is a teacher. Every day, Benjie demonstrates his aptitude in organization, interviewing, outreach, and training. Benjie wants Teachers Who Tutor | LA to succeed because he believes in our mission to support students and families with the very best educators in the world and because he believes that hard work should always lead to tangible results. He wants to make sure students become independent, autonomous learners, and he’s gifted when it comes to working with fellow teachers to improve their craft. 

With a decade of experience in the classroom, an undergraduate degree in math from Wesleyan, and a Masters in Math Education from Rutgers, Benjie is reliable, brilliant, kind, industrious, and as hard-working an educator as you’ll find anywhere in the world. We’re profoundly grateful to have Benjie as our Founding Director of Los Angeles operations.