Introduction: I consider tutoring to be pure joy! I love it when students finally "get it". This is my full time career and have been tutoring for over 30 years. I am a Texas Certified Secondary Mathematics Teacher with over 12 years of classroom experience. I teach and tutor both public and private school students as well as home-schoolers. I have two children of my own, my oldest daughter is in Bible College in Colorado and my youngest son is a freshmen in high school.
How do I tutor? I simply establish a "connection" with students in getting to know their background and interests. Connecting math concepts to their personal lives increases their ability to make it "real" to them, boosting the chances the new material will be retained. Many math topics are more difficult to relate to their lives, so in getting to "know" the student, I can find identify ways in which they learn best. Making them aware of their preferred learning styles seems to heighten their own self-reliance.
My uncanny ability to "connect" with students, as well as my sense of humor and joy create a calm non-intimidating environment in which learning is maximized. By encouraging independence and fostering confidence in their own abilities, I challenge them to build their own mathematical 'connections" from their knowledge base. By analyzing a problem from various angles, we find more than one way to solve a problem. I teach students to breakdown a difficult problem into smaller more manageable bite size pieces, and work from "what we know" to establish a solution. My students are challenged to find and remedy their own mistakes as well as to take an answer to see if it is reasonable. We always "check" our answers. In establishing a "connection" with your child as well as encouraging them to utilize various ways to tackle a problem, I hope to bring about success!
I teach and tutor middle school levels of math, including pre-algebra and algebra. I also love to tutor geometry, as well as some upper elementary math. My goal is to take on students who are struggling either in the upper elementary or middle grades and give them a firm foundation in which to tackle high school and college level mathematics.
If you are "challenged" by math in any way, please contact me. My greatest joy is in being able to help you discover the beauty of mathematics in its many facets. My goal is for you to feel confident enough in your own skills that you will not need my services anymore. With practice, persistence, and patience, we can turn every challenge into a triumph!
