I was born and raised in Tanzania, East Africa. I learned a lot of Mathematics, and I have an immense love for it. I enjoy teaching Mathematics and I do not think that it should be such a difficult subject.
I struggled in Math when I was in High School. After High School, I attended a 2 year advanced level program--there is a British Education system in Tanzania--where I worked hard to learn it. The result: I aced my final Advanced Level Mathematics exams, I learned to tutor others, and I learned that what makes a good tutor is someone who is understanding, patient, compassionate, and who can break down information into chewable pieces before advancing anyone to higher information and to higher thinking levels. I also graduated from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelors' degree in Mathematics and a minor in Studio Art (With Honors).
Tutoring experience: I tutored other students in my advanced level (past high school), my peers in college (while I was in college), and other friends in college (after I graduated from college). I tutored Algebra, Trigonometry, and Calculus at the Collegiate level. I also tutored 11th graders and 12th graders (Algebra I and Geometry) who were working hard to pass the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) test during the school year where I teach.
Teaching: I have taught Mathematics at Dallas Can! Academy (a charter high school in Dallas) for 4 years. I have taught all grade levels--Algebra I and II, Geometry, Math Models, and a little bit of Pre-Calculus.
Tutoring Approach:
1. Assess what a student is required to learn.
2. Diagnose the student's strengths and weaknesses in the area that is to be learned.
3. Check the student's ease with the content.
4. Break down what the student needs to learn into chewable pieces, and then teach them to the student. Provide the student with various scenarios to solve the same type of problem.
5. Provide the student an opportunity to summarize what they learned.
6. Check the student's understanding and mastery in that area with a small assessment.
7. If mastery has not been achieved, I re-teach until the student is strong in that area.
If mastery has been achieved, I move the student on to the next area/level.
From time to time, during the course of the sessions, I check to see if the student still remembers what they learned from the time we began the tutoring process.
** Through it all, I try to incorporate art and other hands-on examples to give the mathematics some meaning for the student.
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