Math Tutoring
Math is an intimidating subject for a lot of students, which doesn’t do much to set them up for success. It’s also a cumulative learning experience. Gaps in understanding can hold up progress, and you can’t learn more advanced math without full understanding of the previous unit. It’s a bit like building a ladder as you climb. You might be able to pull yourself partway up, but you can’t keep climbing until you have the next rung.
Math at Grade Level
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Kindergarten through fifth grade is a critical time for math development. In early grades, kids gain practical skills like counting, recognizing shapes, and putting things in order. In first grade and above, kids learn the fundamental operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Elementary school is also the time when children face common stumbling blocks like word problems, negative numbers, division remainders, fractions, and decimals. Almost every math student I’ve tutored, no matter their age, falters at fractions and decimals. Fortunately, I’ve helped dozens of kids meet this troublesome obstacle and become more confident mathematicians.
Classroom teachers have the challenge of too little time for too many students. Tutors give individualized attention and spend time targeting specific problem areas to help kids move ahead more quickly. Often, I use a few learning models with tutees. For instance, I can explain fractions verbally, with a picture, and through an analogy. We work through a problem together, then they work alone and we make sure everything sticks.
Third, fourth, and fifth grade are pivotal learning times, and a tutor can help to keep kids from falling behind, but many students do fine in grade school when homework loads are lighter. Middle school math tends to be tougher.
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Everything learned in elementary school multiplies (forgive the pun) in sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade math. Middle school covers a lot of material, all ramping up to introduce algebra. This is the time when students:
perform more complex operations with fractions and decimals, including ratios, percentages, and rates
jump into geometry, like measurement, two-dimensional shapes, and calculating volume
explore simple trigonometry and the Pythagorean Theorem are introduced to linear, quadratic, and exponential functions
When students are having trouble with any of these topics, it’s often because their foundational addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills need sharpening. Flashcards, worksheet drills, online math games, and apps are all great ways for students to practice fundamental skills that will help them recognize patterns and multiples faster, which helps in other areas.
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High school math, like high school English, takes everything from first grade on and gets more precise, complex, and challenging. High school is mostly algebra and geometry (which is basically algebra with shapes), which is the foundation of more advanced math like calculus. In fact, most high schools teach algebra, geometry, algebra II/trigonometry, and a variation of college prep math, statistics, or calculus. Usually, calculus is for advanced math students. Regardless of an individual’s trajectory, half of most high school curricula is algebra.
I tutor algebra, algebra II/trigonometry, and geometry. Every high school student has to take some combination of these classes, and they are central to other STEM classes (and the SAT). Without a good understanding, staying on track in mathematics in junior or senior year is extremely difficult.
Algebra Help
Algebra is usually introduced in sixth grade and becomes a core part of the curriculum in eighth grade into high school. Algebra rarely comes intuitively and is often seen as being of little practical use, making it a difficult subject that many are unmotivated to learn. It does, however, have realistic uses. Most of us encounter linear functions, interest calculations, ratios and percentages, and exponential functions in adulthood. To help students with algebra, I assess their level of understanding in key concepts, like variables, constants, expressions, equations, and linear and quadratic functions, then work with them on the areas they find hardest to grasp. There is plenty of online math help to figure out how to solve a problem. My job as an algebra tutor is to make sure students can eventually show me how to solve it.
Geometry Help
Like algebra, geometry can be frustrating for those less-inclined to the STEM fields and even those who enjoy math may dislike memorizing theorems, completing proofs, and understanding geometric word problems. Fortunately, theorems can be memorized just like vocabulary or multiplication problems, and geometry is all about patterns. Teaching kids how to see the patterns is a challenge, but I’ve worked with dozens of geometry students and we can usually create a system to get them through tough problems.
Algebra and Geometry in Real Life
The types of problems taught in school often don’t connect to real-world applications. Does anyone need to know how to calculate how far away a lighthouse is using the shadow of the sun? When everyone has a satellite map in their pocket (and most of us aren’t regularly sailing toward lighthouses) it seems irrelevant. But, understanding angles and measurement is important in construction, design, and even hanging pictures on the wall. Exponents play an important part in computer science. Linear and exponential functions are important to creating financial projections, which might come in handy when creating a business proposal, and understanding data sets and trends.
My Tutoring Approach
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Assess
The first step in any tutoring process is to evaluate math competency. While many students tend to show strengths in STEM subjects or in English and social studies, plenty do well in both areas or struggle in both. There’s no formula for knowing when and how a child will succeed. In my first session with a new client, I talk to the student about their challenges and try to get a sense of how they think and approach problems. Sometimes, a great student can hit one subject area that just doesn’t click. But math is cumulative; skipping over a rough patch isn’t an option. In the assessment phase, I find those rough patches and help my tutees navigate straight through them.
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Boost Confidence
With all my students, I focus on confidence-building and making math less intimidating. This includes getting kids energized by things like multiplication drills and praising effort while correcting errors. I also equip them with what I call “blueprints.” We work together to craft strategies for identifying the correct type of problem, determining the steps it will take to solve it, and implementing the step-by-step method. I focus on depth of understanding so students feel like they have the tools they need each and every time they start their homework or take a test. Above all, I maintain patience and compassion.
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Review & Repeat
I often provide homework help for tutees in addition to re-teaching concepts. If students are excelling in one area, we’ll review trouble spots or move ahead in the curriculum to circumvent future stumbling blocks. Algebra and geometry tutoring usually demand more hands-on homework help to ensure consistency. I try to bring practical examples into our lessons while helping students confront their individual trouble spots. Typically, I find more than one way to approach a problem to find what works. My expertise goes beyond understanding how to do math. A great tutor needs to be able to explain math in a digestible way and adapt when a student isn’t getting it. I’ve developed a lot of patience and creative problem-solving over the years, so I can find the best method for each tutee. There is no single process that will work for everybody. Once we find what does work, we repeat it.
Fun fact: Did you know the numbers in a subtraction problem are called the minuend and the subtrahend? The subtrahend is the number you are taking away, or subtracting, from the minuend. So, in the problem 10 – 9 = 1 the number 10 is the minuend, 9 is the subtrahend, and 1 is the difference.