In the past 6 years I have taught at the middle school, high school, and at the collegiate level. I tutor all mathematics up to Calculus I, II. I received training from a well known test prep company to tutor students in SAT I math. I can also help students that are either studying for the GRE (math section only), or taking the SHSAT( entrance exam into the specialized high schools.)
I have tutored now for 9 years. Though my tutoring sessions generally have a plan of topics that need to be covered, I have and always am prepared to adjust the tutoring session to the particular needs of my students. For instance, if I see that a student is struggling with solving quadratic equations by factoring, and we are currently working on using the quadratic formula, I will first stop what we are doing. Then, I will try to elicit key ideas about how to factor quadratic expressions from the student. Finally I will use some examples that can be solved by factoring to have the student apply the new method, and see that this gives him or her the same result.For this particular topic I may even review how to deal with radicals, and how to confirm that the solutions are correct graphically.
My tutoring methods are generally aimed at eliciting ideas, answers, and procedures from the student. This, without a doubt, gives students an opportunity to take ownership of their progress and their success. In the case that the student is really stuck, I would certainly take the time to develop the concept from something that the student already understands, so that learning mathematics does not become too overwhelming.
To further progress, I encourage students to complete some additional assignments to practice what was gone over during the tutoring session. My focus is for the student to gain a deep understanding of both the concepts and the procedures, and not just the minimum that is needed to solve a particular set of problems. I believe that I have done my job, when the student is left with the ability and self confidence to continue learning mathematics without me.
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