Extra instruction, in the form of tutoring, is beneficial to children regardless of their level and abilities, and all parties can benefit from it. If we are talking about children who do very well in their Math classes and are possibly held back from learning further, or children that need extra help and direction with specific elements of the subjects, or children that have learning disabilities that challenge them in the classroom, can all be helped by tutors and additional Maths tutoring.
I always program my sessions using two basic elements. First, I target my summary and "testing" by use of story problems...my way of not only applying what they have learned, but also combining many of the things they've learned into a real world "challenge". Second, I always relate that story problem, as well as individual problems, to one or more of the students interests. This keeps them focused and I find the ability to relate to the problem personally means they will understand and retain the ideas longer than just to pass the next test. They also realize how learning the material actually will effect their lives.
In addition, with additional Maths tutoring sessions and closer attention given to the student, tutors can help improve the student's self-confidence and boost their self-esteem to enable them to go on to learn more and become more and more confident in their abilities and other subjects as well.
Math is a language, just like English, French or German, and in the form of sentences in that language. Math problems are also in sentences...Math sentences...and the languages are Basic Math, Algebra, Trigonometry, Calculus, and so on. It is the students responsibility then to be the interpretor between the "verbal" language and the "Math" language. This means the first step is to build the Math sentence that comes from the "verbal" sentence found in the story problem.
All Math problems can be solved using the same approach/system. Start at the back end (the answer) and work your way forward. Using this method you can solve any problem...regardless of how complicated (and intimidating) it may look.
Step 1 is to figure out what the problem is asking for and also what form that answer might be in. As and example, the form needed might be in inches, but the information given might be in feet. This tells you you need to do a conversion at some point. How many times has a student gotten a problem wrong because they didn't convert the answer...that is extremely frustrating.
Step 2 is to figure out what information you need to get that answer, and if that information is given in the problem, your ready to answer the question, if not, then you need to figure out what information you need to get the information to answer the question.
Step 3 is just a rep-eat of step 2 until the information you need actually is given in the problem. Once you reach this stage, you simply reverse the steps. You've just laid out the plan of how to find the answer in reverse. Just follow it.
The other BIG issue with Math is the idea of practice. Practice, practice and more practice. I find athletes are sometimes the easiest to tutor because the concept of practice, and how this leads to "muscle memory" on the field can relate to that same muscle memory (the brain in this case) using Math.
There are other tools and tricks I use to help understand and retain Math skills that I will be passing with the following posts. Just remember one thing...Practice, practice and practice some more.
