My Teaching Philosophy

From a very early age, I have had a deep love of mathematics. This is a hard thing to explain to people who have hated math all of their lives, and I can certainly understand why. As both a tutor and a student, I have grown accustomed to watching math be explained as a series of formulas to be memorized and plugged into a calculator. The actual substance of what’s going on is never explained, and when the student understandably becomes confused, they are met with poor grades, low self-esteem, and no adequate explanation of why they are getting problems wrong. If this was how I learned math, I would hate it too.

That was not how I learned math, and it is not how I teach math. I teach students the underlying logical connections between what they are doing and why. In other words, students learn to understand what the problem is asking and why a particular strategy would rationally produce the desired answer. When I do this, math starts to feel like less of a chore and more of a puzzle. Students begin to think for themselves and gain an intuitive grasp of mathematics, whereas before they were roaming around in the dark, hoping to use the right formula. I am frequently met with eyes suddenly lighting up with understanding, a long drawn out ‘Oh!’, and the common question “Why didn’t my teacher just explain it like that?” Those moments are my favorite part of this job.

When students learn math this way, they are not only put in a better position for their current class but for all classes to come. I cannot count how many times students have told me they forgot everything they had learned in their last class, and the reality is that this is the number one reason students start to fall behind. If a student cannot remember how to factor from Algebra, they are never going to survive Calculus. It’s that simple. In fact, I often spend a good chunk of my time with students making sure they understand necessary concepts from previous classes before moving on. Math knowledge builds on itself year by year, and I pay close attention to this detail. Respecting this process is the only strategy that reliably sets up students for success in the future.