I've taught math for more than 25 years at the middle school, high school, and college levels, including almost every math course from 7th grade math through Calculus, Statistics, and Linear Algebra. My career has been focused in teaching, and I really love leading students to uncover the power they have to understand complex ideas that they too often think are beyond them.
In order to have that outcome I focus on learning where the student IS, mathematically. I teach students based on...
I've taught math for more than 25 years at the middle school, high school, and college levels, including almost every math course from 7th grade math through Calculus, Statistics, and Linear Algebra. My career has been focused in teaching, and I really love leading students to uncover the power they have to understand complex ideas that they too often think are beyond them.
In order to have that outcome I focus on learning where the student IS, mathematically. I teach students based on the background they actually have, rather than some ideal of "you should already know this". Connecting to what they know and can do gives the confidence of feeling a solid foundation beneath the new ideas they are confronting, making the math make sense. If there's a gap between homework and test performance, we take an honest look at WHY--is it test anxiety, or overuse of supports like AI and answer checking? Same problem, with two very different causes requiring different strategies to overcome.
If you're a parent hiring me as a tutor for your student, you understandably want to monitor progress. I can send you lesson summaries that cite obstacles we've worked through, give suggestions on what can be done to support your student outside of tutoring sessions, and recommend additional resources as the need surfaces. (If your student is a legal adult, I'll want their explicit permission to share with you--but that's usually not a difficult ask, and every college will require it as well, no matter who is paying the bills!).
Some feedback from my recent secondary students:
"Learning Algebra was super easy because of you!!"
"Thank you for motivating and believing in me. I will cherish that."
"You're one of the best teachers I've ever had!"
"Thank you for teaching me math for the real world."
