My Math Story
I was always good at math as a kid, but the truth is I hid this because it was not cool. I would always test well, but I never really wanted anyone to know I was good at math. It just did not seem like something that would be very cool.
I was also a fat kid at this time. I already had the being picked on as a fat kid under control, but to add "good at math" on top of that? Forget it.
Somewhere along the way I got taller and lost the weight. In high school my Algebra teacher made me an offer. I could do whatever I wanted during math class and he would give me an A if I joined the math club.
I agreed under two conditions. 1. Nobody could know I was in the math club and 2. Nobody could know I was in the math club.
He agreed.
The problem arose after the Math Club Team went to the State competition. A few weeks after the competition the teacher informed me that he had some good news and some bad news. The good news was I finished 5th in the Ohio State Math Competition. The bad news was everyone would know I was in the Math club.
My Approach To Tutoring Kids & Math
CORRECT
I find out how their math teacher missed passing on the skill set to them?
This is the first wall that has to be broken down. If we don't break this down then as a parent the cycle will never end.
CONNECT
Math then has to be connected to something they are excited about in the world. This can be anything from a sport to shopping at American Girl. Everything in the world has a math componet attached to it and that is the key. We all have to learn math whether we want to, or not.
COLLECT
Fun. It has to be fun. Once it is fun then we all collect the results.
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