by Angelina Dodson | Jul 13, 2016 | Math, Teaching and Learning, Testing
How to Get Through the Tough Times with Math
Although math is one of my favorite subjects, and I am now am math tutor, math hasn’t always been easy for me. In fact, math has made me very discouraged. I can remember a time in middle school when I referred to my math class as the torture chamber. I absolutely hated it. I didn’t understand my homework. I struggled to do well on tests. I didn’t understand what was being taught in class. I just wanted to give up, but I got through it. Now, I love math. It is something I do for fun and it excites me.
I bet you are wondering how I went from being that student who hated math to where I am today. I have some tips to help if you are having a hard time with math. These tips are a combination of things I wish I knew and things I did back then that helped me get through the tough times.
- Get help when you need it.
If you don’t understand something, ask your teacher. If you need more help than your teacher can give you, find a tutor. There is nothing wrong with needing more help.
- Remember mistakes are ok.
When you make a mistake it is proof that you are trying. As long as you learn from them, mistakes can be helpful. Take some time to understand your mistakes and remember, always ask questions if you have them.
Math isn’t always going to be easy. When you hit a topic that is hard for you, keep trying until you understand it. Some topics are going to be harder for you to understand than others. Never give up.
If you have been working hard on your homework, and you are getting discouraged, walk away for a little bit. Go eat a snack or do other homework. When you come back your brain will be ready to learn again.
- Tell yourself you can do it.
It is all in your head. If you have convinced yourself you can’t do something, you probably won’t be able to do it. On the other hand, if you have convinced yourself that you are capable and you can accomplish something, it is likely you will accomplish it.
- Grades aren’t everything.
Although grades are a way for teachers to tell you how you did, that is all they do. They don’t make one person better than another person. If you worked hard and gave it everything you’ve got, you should be proud of yourself regardless of your grade.
Your attitude determines a lot in life. If you choose to have a positive attitude, it won’t change your situation, but it will make it more bearable. You can either be happy or miserable, so you might as well choose to be happy and have a positive attitude.
As you can see, these tips don’t just apply to math. They are applicable to any subject you are struggling with. Hang in there, use these tips, and you will make it through. You may even do better than you were expecting!
by MaThCliX | Feb 23, 2016 | Math, Teaching and Learning
Do Math Manipulatives Help Our Students Learn?
What are they?
A math manipulative is an object that is used in the teaching of mathematics that allows students to perceive the idea or concept they are learning through touching and moving the object. These manipulatives can range from anything like dice or money to pattern blocks, two-color counters, and even playing cards or dominoes.
What age groups?
All ages can benefit from the use of manipulatives while learning math. Math manipulatives are most commonly used in the early elementary ages or younger. Once students become more capable of abstracting concepts (older elementary, middle, and high school), teachers seem to have students spend more time doing math with paper and pencil, and less with hands on methods.
What are the benefits?
The use of manipulatives in the learning of mathematics allows students to represent math in multiple ways. More senses become engaged, including visual and tactile, which keeps a student more attentive. They are able to “see” math, which reinforces the conceptual understanding. This lays the groundwork for the mechanics that they will use later and allows the rules to be more meaningful and make sense, which in turn, will be less for them to “memorize”. Seeing math allows students to expand on ideas and uses of math in the world around them.
Why aren’t teachers using them?
Three reasons that math manipulatives are not used as often as they could, is time, money, and lack of knowledge. Developing the concept with a manipulative may require more time and so often, our teachers are burdened with getting through the material. While many math manipulatives on the market can be costly, not all manipulatives are expensive, but having enough for a class set could get pricey. Each math manipulative can be used to teach a variety of concepts. Often teachers may not know how to teach various concepts with these tools, and so they just do not get used. There are many companies out there that do trainings with their manipulative for teachers to learn.
This blog has an ultimate list of math manipulatives that can get you started!
by Ty Hilton | Jan 11, 2016 | Math, Teaching and Learning
Off to a Good Start!
Having a break from school is a good thing. You have a chance to catch up with family and friends and to catch up on sleep. However, being away from school for multiple weeks can take you out of the right mindset and put you in an unproductive mood. It can be difficult to get back into the swing of things and if you don’t adjust fast enough, it can negatively affect your grades. If you mess up on the first couple of assignments or the first test, it definitely won’t be good for your overall average in the class. However, that is not all of the damage that it will do. It could also make you less confident in your ability to succeed in the class, which could discourage you and potentially lead to additional bad grades in the class. Also, if you fail your first test, you probably did not learn enough of the material. In subjects such as math and science, the new material builds off of previous material. Therefore this could hinder you on future assignments and tests. Plus, most finals are cumulative, so if you didn’t do so hot on the first test, then you might lose some points when you encounter the same material from the first test on the final. So, I’ve just ranted on to warn you about the terrors of slacking off at the start of school.
Now let me give you some advice on how to start this next semester and year off with a bang.
1. Goal setting: Having goals is important because it gives you something to work on and to aspire to. If setting goals isn’t your thing or you are having trouble developing some, that’s ok, because we got you covered. For the start of the semester, here at MaThCliX, we are working with students to develop three S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound) goals for the semester. So if you haven’t already, try to come by in the next week or so, and we’ll make sure to set you up with goals that will keep you focused and on track throughout the semester.
2. Enough sleep: Not getting enough sleep can cause problems with our mood and ability to function. Because of this, I would say sleep is a crucial factor when it comes to functioning at school. It’s not an easy task to go to bed early every night. Today in our modern society we have a lot of fancy devices that get our attention before bed. However, whether this coming week is your second week of high school or first week of college, try to put away your smartphone and go to bed at a decent hour. You will find yourself with more energy throughout the day which will hopefully take you out of denial that the holiday break has ended. Furthermore, by seeing the positive effects of going to bed earlier, you might find yourself more inclined to not stay up really late in the future, and going to bed early might formulate into a good habit.
3. Priorities: Setting your priorities straight is pretty important to say the least. What I would advise you to do is to make a list of activities that you do during your week (whether hobbies, school assignments, etc.) and rate them from 1-10, first on importance, then based on how urgent each activity is. For example, playing video games is not that important and isn’t urgent. So I would give it a 2 for importance and a 1 for urgency. However, having a test tomorrow is, so I would give it a 10 for importance and a 10 for urgency. If you do this for every activity you do in a week (or month, you can set whatever time interval you need), it will give you a pretty good idea what you should focus your attention on and what you can save for later.
In conclusion, if you set goals that you can pursue, get enough sleep, and set your priorities straight, then you will be setting yourself up to succeed.
by Adam Dodson | Dec 8, 2015 | Math, Teaching and Learning
Get Moving!
If someone asked me what I feel is most lacking in those that I tutor, my response would be one word: “Confidence.” I have not found a single person, ever, that I could honestly say was not smart enough to “get it.” What I usually find is smart people who have convinced themselves that they cannot do it. An occurrence far too common in tutoring, especially in math tutoring, is that students give up far too easily on themselves. They lack confidence in their capacity to solve their own problems. One of the most valued skills in business, so I’ve been told, is the capacity to assess and solve problems. A key component of this skill is acting and doing all we can before asking for help to do what we can’t do. In what follows I hope to suggest ideas that will improve our ability to act and do what we can for ourselves before we seek assistance.
What seems to happen with all of us is that if something looks hard we automatically assume that it is hard, panic and give up before we even begin. Instead of doing that we need to simply begin with confidence. We do this by first making sure what we are being asked to do. It seems rather obvious, but what we begin with is reading the question. When people ask me for help, usually I’ll ask them if they have read the question. Far too often the answer to that question is “No, I haven’t.” More than a few times, after we have read the question they’ll say “Oh, I do know how to do this.” Problem solved. So one thing that is a part of doing all you can is reading the question. Simple, but it works.
I have also found that many students, when they read, do not understand the question because they do not understand the words the question is using. I’ve personally had this problem more than I care to admit. I remember once when I was reading a physics article that used a certain word multiple times. Because I did not know the meaning of the word, I wasn’t really sure what they were talking about. After some time, I went back, learned what the word meant, then re-read the article. When I did that, it became clear to me what was being said. So if in reading the question you find words that you do not know, look up the definition. It doesn’t matter if you search for it in your notes, your textbook, and a dictionary or ask somebody, if you don’t know it, find out! That is one thing you can do.
After reading the question and making sure we know what it is asking, we may find, that we still do not know how to do the problem. Does that mean we have done all we can and can ask for help? No. Not yet anyway. When I first started tutoring there were quite a few math problems that I did not remember how to solve. What I’d usually do is ask the person to see their notes. I’d quickly look them over and more often than not, I’d discover how to solve the problem. I’d suggest doing likewise. If you have read the question and know what it is asking but still do not know how to do it, look in your notes! The answer is almost always there.
If we’ve reached this point and we still cannot understand then we need to ask for assistance. You may wonder why you need to expend so much effort if you’re probably going to ask for help anyway. Well I’ll answer that by saying it’s quite a bit easier to steer a moving car than it is a parked car. If you’re already moving in some direction, any direction, all that any tutor would ever need to do is help you steer. The same is true in any pursuit in life.
In all that I’ve said, I’d like to add a caution. Rarely does your best effort cover all that you will need to do in math, or in life. Do not hesitate, ever, to ask a question or seek help. If you need help, ask for it! Just make sure you’re doing your part!
by Rebecca Mayer | Nov 17, 2015 | Math, Teaching and Learning
Ther
e are many common math mistakes that I have noticed many students making. They are simple issues that are often overlooked, missed, or forgotten. For some of them, no matter how many times you mention them to a student, they seem to continue to be missed, usually out of bad habit. As a tutor, it is my job to continue to enforce correcting these mistakes through repetition. As a student, here are some of the most common mistakes that you may be able to look over, remember, and not make them in the future.
1. Overlooking or adding too many parentheses: parentheses are very important when solving any type of equation. They are, of course, part of our order of operations. Some students forget when to evaluate parentheses, don’t register their existence, or put too many in an equation when solving by steps, causing incorrect answers. For an equation such as 8=4(x+3), I have noticed some students attempt to put the parenthesis around the x, giving them 8=4(x)+(3), which would give the wrong answer.
2. Negatives: some students often make the mistake of not distributing a negative or forgetting that subtracting a negative number is actually just adding a number. For
5-(4+3), the negative can be distributed into the parenthesis giving 5-4-3. This is often rewritten by students as 5-4+3, in which they forget about the parenthesis and distribution.
3. Writing an equation incorrectly: some students like to rewrite equations on a separate piece of paper, and while there is nothing wrong with this, some students do not write it correctly and therefore result in an incorrect answer. Writing a fraction, such as x/2, as 2/x when rewriting would not be correct, because in the original expression, the x is in the numerator, .
4. Remembering formulas: when a teacher gives you formulas, they are important, use them! Some students ask for help over something they can’t solve, because they haven’t glanced down at the formula sheet that their teacher provided them. The problems aren’t solvable without them! Make sure to take a good look at your formula sheet, especially if one won’t be given to you on your test.
5. Not writing down all steps: Many very intelligent students are fully capable of solving equations in their head and just writing down the answer. A lot of times this is effective, but no matter how good the mathematician, they will most likely make mistakes if trying to solve equations all in their head. It is important to write down all steps when answering questions, first to be able to solve it mistake free, and second, in the event that a mistake was made or the correct answer was not found, to be able to look back at work to find the mistake. If you do the whole problem in your head and end up with the wrong answer, you won’t have any idea where the mistake was made.
by MaThCliX | Aug 3, 2015 | Math, Teaching and Learning
Back-to-School Success
Tips for Students and Parents
And just like that, another summer is over and a new school year begins! Here are some tips for both parents and students to work together to ensure a successful school year.
Students
1. Set goals: Write them out clearly and display them somewhere that you see them everyday
ex: I will complete my HW before I watch TV
2. Get organized: This includes finding a way to organize papers going back and forth from subject to subject. How are you going to know what your assignments are and when they are due?
3. Plan: What HW, tests, and quizzes do you have this week? How will you prepare for them? Make sure you plan out your study time.
4. Practice: This is how you learn! Make time each day to practice.
5. Get Help: Are you not understanding what you are supposed to be learning? Ask! Get help! Go to your teacher, parent, and of course, MaThCliX! That is what we are here for.
Parents
1. Make sure that you know how to communicate with your student’s teacher. Know when conferences are and plan to have a presence and be proactive in your student’s academics.
2. Check grades! Even if your student is old enough to check their own grades, it never hurts to have a parent checking, too. Know when progress reports and report cards are due. If you see grades dropping, intervene quickly!
3. Make sure your student is doing the success tips for students. Ask them how they are doing each one.
4. Find out about what student’s are learning each week so that you can help or get help, as needed. Find out about tutorials, teacher websites, and recommended resources.
5. Bring your student to MaThCliX!
