I have been tutoring math for 6 plus years and have loved
every second of it. I started with a
family I didn’t know and let me tell you my tutoring career almost ended as
soon as it started.
My first student had weird antics. One day she would refuse to talk and would
point to her work with her hair. Other
days, the bearable days, she would choose an accent that she would talk in for
the entire hour! It was a difficult
start to what turned out to be a beautiful relationship.
I stuck through it because, well, I needed the money and I
am beyond glad I did. This girl turned
out to be the most amazing person I have had the privilege to know. I saw her grow in her knowledge, maturity and
into one stinking amazing person. There
were no dry eyes when I watched her graduate 8th grade.
I have tutored many families since then and have been
blessed by every single one, whether I was only with them for a year or still
with them to this day. I have loved getting
to know each student, their personality and how they learn. I have seen students go from lower math
classes to being eligible for honors and I have seen student’s grades rise from
Ds and Cs to Bs and As and every time, I get that sense of pride. Not because it is my doing but because I see
they have finally built up the confidence in their mathematic abilities.
People always say they see me light up when I talk about
tutoring and I know it’s true because I feel like I could fill up hours talking
about all of the sessions where I saw the light bulb click, where we just sat
and talked about life, and where I felt like they conquered their frustrations
and fears.
I have been asked why I don’t turn my passion into a full-time
business and honestly I have gone back and forth with the idea but as for right
now, I am perfectly content with just being able to tutor for the families I
have now.
I feel like I have been blessed with the gift of teaching
math and I hope to be able to do so for many years to come. In this blog, I hope people will find
different ways to reach that student that sees math differently from his/her
peer sitting right next to them as well as bringing creative ways to teach
certain topics.