Experienced College Level Math Tutor

Christian D.

My name is Christian, a happy resident of Colorado for the last 17 years.

I went to college at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. Math has always been a subject that interests me, especially with the variety of applications to Engineering, which is what my Bachelor's degree is in. That's not to say I've had the easiest time with it, as I know what it's like to struggle and fail. My first year of college involved multiple D grades and reaching academic probation. However after I had time to focus and work hard, I ended up making the Dean's List four times, with a cumulative GPA of 3.4 at the end of my schooling.

I initially sought out a career in teaching and began in classroom environments, but found that the one-on-one or small group style of tutoring was where I was most comfortable, and most effective. I currently work as an active math tutor at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, where I've been for about two years. Tutoring is a very fulfilling job, as I get to help students achieve their goals and learn from hard work.

When I'm tutoring, I prefer to treat it as a conversation. The most important step of learning is to be comfortable. From there, my focus is asking many questions that lead a student to making decisions and discovering the answers on their own, rather than it being directly given. The answer itself is certainly important, but if a student doesn't understand why that is the correct answer, they wouldn't be able to find it again. Personally, I always say that math is about pattern recognition and problem solving. Those skills are important to develop for life outside of just schooling, and so the skills development that accompanies tutoring is always my primary goal. Memorizing a large amount of facts and functions may help with a test, but learning how to think about problems and discover solutions will help with the rest of a student's life.