Retired TX Teacher Certified: Spanish, Social Studies, Math, ESL, G+T

There is an old saying about education, "It's not about filling a bucket, it's about lighting a fuse." I believe that. As a high school teacher I saw students bewildered, over and over again, by being asked to learn facts or procedures that were unrelated to each other or to the student's lives. It is the biggest obstacle to learning for most students.

In Math, what students need to learn is how to look at the world and use numbers and calculations to understand it better. Whether that is their personal finances, tasks at their job, or evaluating the news and the statements of politicians, they will almost never be presented with equations and graphs and given a problem to solve as they are in class. What they need is the "number sense" to look at a real world question and turn it into a math problem to be solved without any guidance. If they can do that, then their high school math training was worthwhile. If they can't it was unsuccessful, irrespective of their grades.

In learning a foreign language what students really need to learn is a different way of looking at the world. Spanish speakers see everything a little bit differently from English speakers and French speakers see things in yet a different way. These perspectives overlap some, but much less than one might think. Once they "get" that, the vocabulary and grammar and even the accent come much easier and more quickly. Until then, it often seems like pointless memorization and repetition. This is especially true when the foreign language is English and the student is an immigrant to this country.

Similar key concepts exist for History, Geography and all the Social Sciences. I don't have the space here to discuss each one, but my approach is similar to that for Math and Foreign Language.

Gill's Subjects

Math:	algebra 1, algebra 2, geometry, prealgebra
Language:	French, Spanish
History:	American history, European history, geography, social studies, world history
Business:	economics
Corporate Training:	economics, French, Spanish
Homeschool:	algebra 1, algebra 2, economics, French, geometry, prealgebra, Spanish

Algebra 1

In Texas we have laid out the skills and knowledge that an Algebra I student should master in the older TEKS/TAKS system and now the STAAR/EOC system. That provides a checklist for teaching and tutoring that makes sure that the child is ready to pass the high stakes tests. However a checklist is not a curriculum and simply prepping for a test is not a way to develop lifelong math skills or even a proper preparation for Geometry and Algebra II.

To show a student what the slope of an... Read More

Algebra 2

In Algebra II the student is moving from working with simple equations and shapes to more complex functions and shapes. Often the relationship is lost and the students feel like they have entered a whole new area that is difficult for them. In fact, they are just building on what they learned before. If they didn't master Algebra I, then I can cover earlier material as a tutor of an individual student that a teacher of a large class cannot. Overcoming the fear of the new and relating new material... Read More

American History

American History is a great story, but even the best story can be made boring and uninteresting if it's not told well. Once a student gets hooked by the story they have a way to keep track of the facts and fit them into a pattern that they can remember. Even young students follow very complicated stories on TV, in movies, or in video games. They already know how to keep track of a story that they like. The job of the tutor is to find a way to focus that energy on the American History story.

European History

European History is a great story, but even the best story can be made boring and uninteresting if it's not told well. Once a student gets hooked by the story they have a way to keep track of the facts and fit them into a pattern that they can remember. Even young students follow very complicated stories on TV, in movies, or in video games. They already know how to keep track of a story that they like. The job of the tutor is to find a way to focus that energy on the European History story.

French

I lived in Paris for two years, working as a Director of Marketing for the largest French advertising agency. Therefore, I know what it is like to really need to learn to speak French well in a hurry. My approach is practical, not theoretical. I don't believe there is any substitute for speaking with a live instructor. In my own language studies I've found an hour speaking with a teacher was worth more than weeks of video or computer lessons.

Geometry

Geometry is in some ways the most interesting high school math subject because it can be accessible and interesting to students who dislike and have trouble with algebra. The background in logic that one gets in geometry is useful in all subjects including problems where no numbers or calculations are needed. This is often a pleasant surprise and a strong motivator to students who "don't like math". For those students Geometry can be a real confidence builder.

Prealgebra

Prealgebra is the bridge between working with actual numbers to working with numbers and symbolic quantities, the famous "x" of algebra. It is a conceptual leap that is very difficult for some students to make, but is essential to success in the high school math curriculum. It is important to see if a student is getting by with guesses and brute force substitution to solve problems without developing that "number sense" for symbolic expressions.

In a tutoring situation, where there... Read More

Spanish

I began learning Spanish visiting my relatives in Venezuela as a teenager and I've been studying it and later teaching it ever since. I believe language instruction is above all learning to speak since that makes the student actively generate Spanish and not passively receive it as when reading or listening. It is vital to keep the student from translating from English to Spanish by developing the speaking reflexes in Spanish and as soon as the student has reached an intermediate level abandoning... Read More

Geography

I'm writing this description the day after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast causing massive death and destruction. A few years ago, I was teaching high school in Dallas when Katrina hit New Orleans and my school took in fifty student refugees. Another year I was teaching when the great tsunami hit Indonesia killing over 250,000 people, and I had to explain that to my 9th graders.

Geography affects our lives every day. The key to teaching it is to get students to believe that and... Read More

World History

World History is a great story, but even the best story can be made boring and uninteresting if it's not told well. Once a student gets hooked by the story they have a way to keep track of the facts and fit them into a pattern that they can remember. Even young students follow very complicated stories on TV, in movies, or in video games. They already know how to keep track of a story that they like. The job of the tutor is to find a way to focus that energy on the World History story.

Economics

I studied economics at the University of Chicago and was privileged to hear lectures and take courses from the very strong faculty there, the "Chicago School economists."

Economics is often misunderstood as being the study of how people spend money, businesses make profits, and what makes economies of whole countries go up and down. It is those things but it is more.

It is the study of how to manage scarcity. That could be how a parent allocates their time between children,... Read More

Social Studies

In Texas to be certified to teach High School Social Studies a teacher must pass a test covering American History, World History, World Geography, Economics, and Psychology. I am certified in Texas and have taught in DFW public high schools World Geography, Honors World History, and Advanced Placement and regular Economics.

The most common difficulty that students have in Social Studies is the feeling that they have to memorize long lists of names, places, dates, people and so on for... Read More

Read all subject qualifications »

Education

University of Chicago (Business) University of Chicago (MBA)

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Gill will travel within 25 miles of Mckinney, TX 75070.

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