Social Studies with Jacob J.

I teach both academic subjects and guitar lessons. For guitar: I have been playing guitar for nearly 20 years, in styles including rock, blues, folk, and finger style. I love playing songs by Leo Kottke, Mumford and Sons, Chris Smither, Walk the Moon, The Killers, The Beatles, and roots music like bluegrass and folk. I like to keep things fun in lessons and focus on building my students love of music. For academic lessons: I earned my Ph.D. in Sociology from Southern Illinois University in 2009, and taught at South Dakota State University in the Sociology & Rural Studies department since then. I have been teaching at the college level for nearly a decade, and love helping people learn! I can talk about difficult subjects in plain language, and help students who are just shy of the grade they want earn that "A." I have had many students who started out hopeless, but who were able to learn things they never thought they could, and get better grades than they ever imagined, with my help. I have worked with all kinds of students, some with jobs and kids, some fresh out of high school, and some working on getting their graduate degree. Helping them learn, grow as people, and accomplish their goals has brought me joy and satisfaction as I watched them succeed. Many have gone on to earn a Master's or Doctoral degree, or earn jobs as police officers, business people, and more.