tutoring

man · #1 02-10-2006, 05:01 PM

I'm a calc clinic tutor, and lately I've been having trouble teaching a few kids. usually I don't have a problem because I'm usually dealing with reasonably smart people. this semester however there are two kids that I'm having a downright hard time with. they're not completely brain dead, which is uh, nice, but they're probably like 450 math SATs or something. they're also really hard workers, which I respect, and which makes me want to work extra hard with them.

usually I'm really good at identifying what people are confused about it, and do a reasonably good job of explaining it, but these guys are, like, uh, I don't wanna say "stupid," but, jesus. I had to explain to one guy ( who is in in calc II) not only that the inverse of ln is e, but that that means ln(e^x)=x. damn.

I'm also thinking about teaching high school at some point, and I know that these students will be about the average student I'll be working with.

does anyone have any idea how to teach? should I take it back to basics? teach them things as I go?

advice/anecdotes/funny jokes (teaching, or non-teaching related) are appreciated!

garion888 · #2 02-10-2006, 05:03 PM

Have you tried using the example of square and squareroot.

i.e. sqrt(x^2) = x

if that's too much then just start with addition and subtraction.

man · #3 02-10-2006, 05:06 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Have you tried using the example of square and squareroot.

i.e. sqrt(x^2) = x

if that's too much then just start with addition and subtraction.

[/ QUOTE ]
well I think I finally got through to him on that particular problem but I'm interested in general teaching strategy. I know there are a few high school teachers in here!

swede123 · #4 02-10-2006, 05:06 PM

It seems to me that failure to grasp math is usually caused by poor foundations. While it may be beyond the scope of your tutoring to start with the basics that's probably what it takes, especially if these kids are reasonably smart all-around.

Swede

garion888 · #5 02-10-2006, 05:09 PM

Well what i just did there with the square root exapmle is basically the way I taught (when I used teach physics). If you have people that are hard-working then there should be no possible way on the planet that you can't teach them anything. From my experience it basically comes down to finding an example that they can understand and then branching out from that example. I usually had two or three basic ones that most people could get for each concept. If they couldn't get it (and weren't just being difficult) then I would look for different examples to help impart the information.

BeerMoney · #6 02-10-2006, 05:11 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Have you tried using the example of square and squareroot.

i.e. sqrt(x^2) = x

if that's too much then just start with addition and subtraction.

[/ QUOTE ]

sqrt(x^2)= abs(x)

man · #7 02-10-2006, 05:12 PM

yeah. I guess part of the problem is that they don't really understand the fundamentals that are required to understand the stuff we're working on now.

any others?

garion888 · #8 02-10-2006, 05:13 PM

Well said...

Edit: Actually that's probably not true either. sqrt(x^2) is not a single valued function(abs(x) is)...

BeerMoney · #9 02-10-2006, 05:15 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I had to explain to one guy ( who is in in calc II) not only that the inverse of ln is e, but that that means ln(e^x)=x. damn.

[/ QUOTE ]

Dude, if you get frustrated when students have these types of problems, YOU ARE NOT CUT OUT TO BE A MATH TEACHER. Its understandable and all, but a lot people don't understand order of operations and things.

man · #10 02-10-2006, 05:19 PM

you're absolutley right. I'm just showing where they're at.