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!
by Rebecca Mayer | Jun 29, 2015 | Math, Teaching and Learning
Learning Your Learner-
For students who need a lot of help comprehending a certain topic, one-on-one tutoring is a good way to go. For these types of students, I have learned that it is best to work at their pace and to reiterate things as many times and in as many different ways as they need. Repeating things and asking them to repeat something you’ve said helps you make sure they understand something, and helps them realize they understand something themselves and will be able to remember it.
It takes a while to learn exactly what the student needs and how they learn, and it is important not to force a learning style on them and to use what they know. It takes some time to figure out what a student’s certain learning style is, and when they get that aha moment, it’s easy to tell you’ve found the right style.
During my time as a tutor, I’ve found that the most common type of learning style is asking questions. This helps the student figure things out for themselves and allows them to find answers without you telling them. It can also make them feel very accomplished when they reach their own aha moment by themselves, then you know they’re truly comprehending the topic.
With patience and understanding, I have been able to learn the learning style of many of the students I tutor. You have to try out different methods to see how well they respond and how engaged into the topic they feel. It may take a while, but with time, finding out how a student learns best will definitely pay off and allow them to get the most out of tutoring.
by Chuck Summers | Jun 29, 2015 | Math, Teaching and Learning
The ideas expressed in this blog are certainly not new or original to me. I would like to give credit to Chris Brady, CEO of Life Leadership for these ideas.
I am an electrical engineer by training and practice. I know a lot about circuit design, digital signal processing and software design. One thing I was never taught in school, or as an engineer, however, is what Chris Brady calls the “checkpoint race”.
A checkpoint race requires participants to pass certain checkpoints in order to proceed in the race. There are no short cuts: every checkpoint has to be passed.
At MaThCliX®, we must meet certain checkpoints if we are to be successful tutors. Those three checkpoints are 1) Make a friend, 2) Find a need, 3) Meet that need.
To be effective as a tutor, I have to convey to the student that I truly care for them as a person. This cannot be faked. If you do not have a sincere concern for the well-being and success of your students, you either need to find a way to develop it or quit tutoring, because you will not have much success as a teacher and may, in fact, do more harm than good. There is saying that applies here: “They won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
One way of approaching this is to view a problem a student may have as a common problem, one in which you are working together to solve. At MaThCliX®, we first demonstrate how to solve the problem, then solve the problem with student, then let them solve one by independently. We are not there to show the student how much we know, but rather listen with humility to discern what problems they are having.
Listening is somewhat of a lost art. You will be amazed at how much more effectively you will become at helping students when you master this skill. When you listen carefully you can pick up on seemingly unrelated things that will greatly impact a students comprehension.
An extension of the quote above goes like this, “They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, but then you had better know something! ” At this point the student is ready to hear.
Finding the need is important because we don’t won’t to help the student with a problem they don’t have. This is an area I struggle with because there are areas of math that I get really excited about. It is real easy and enjoyable for me to spend time talking about those things, but I have to work hard to find their problems or concerns and not my own.
Once the needs are identified, we use multiple techniques geared to a student’s learning style to help the student understand solutions that they can embrace. Of course, you know their learning style because you have been actively listening and picking up on their visual and auditory cues (part of making a friend).
These three steps or checkpoints are applicable to a host of other endeavors and are the basis for successful sales and leadership. You may not realize it, but anytime you are trying to get your point across, you are selling and influencing. So, every time you interact with a student you should make a friend, find a need, and help them solve a problem.
by Nicole Dowling | Jun 25, 2015 | Math
Sacred Geometry, Mandalas, and Mathematics…
How many different shapes do you see in this image? There are circles and triangles and hexagons; oh my! A little closer look might reveal more intricate shapes…
I encourage everyone to draw this image. It may be messy at first, but you’ll start to see how these shapes are all pieced together. And you might discover more shapes during your artistic voyage!
Drawing Mandalas have been a big part of the Hindu and Buddhist history. The word “Mandala” is a Sanskrit term for “circle” and can be thought of as a schematic visual representation o
f the Universe. These images have been used in meditation: symbolizing the journey around (or in) the space one wanted to discover in greater detail. That space can be the around the Earth, in the Universe, on even in one’s own Mind. By visualizing a path to traverse around the Mandala, one is thought to have a clearer mind on how to move through the Universe as a whole.
Mathematics is about communicating the patterns that one observes about the Universe with great precision; thus the more practice one has in creating these detailed diagrams, the more likely one notices the details within our beautiful, yet complex, Universe. Mental discipline is a useful tool when it comes to mathematical thinking… Some people draw these mandalas with immense accuracy in the sand; then, once done, smooth out the sand as if no image was there in the first place. The emphasis here is in the process. The act of drawing is what’s important, thus when the image is done it’s immediately erased. The lesson is to show us how to let go of things we work so hard on; to be okay with washing away the hard work we have done. To practice being adaptable! So draw on young explorers and produce your perspective with critical specificity!
Thank you to those who took my class: FractalRock!
by Katie Boswell | Jun 17, 2015 | Math
Practice Makes Perfect
Students question the need to be in the Math Lab during the summer, yet they don’t question the need for summer football training. Just like we need to keep our bodies in shape, we need to keep our brains in shape.
If you’ve seen a lot of progress through the year, why would you let that dwindle away by not practicing those skills over the summer? Start out the new year strong with a fresh mind that has practiced and kept in shape.
Think about when you first learned to read. You started with letters, which turned into words, then into sentences and finally BOOKS. If you did not study and look at letters daily, you would not have been able to turn those letters into words and you would have to continually relearn. Take what you have learned this year, grow it, expand it and understand things at a whole new level.
Some things to work on over the summer include: basic math skills, logic skills, writing skills and my personal favorite, test taking skills!
Summer is not only a great time to keep up skills you’ve already learned, but also a good time to get started on preparing for the SAT and ACT while not plagued with hours of homework and practice until 8pm. And how about a little incentive to get started today? Sign up for a Test Prep package that includes 10 hours or more of tutoring by July 1st and receive $25 off of a Fall Test Prep lab package.
by Jeff Skinner | Jun 6, 2015 | Math, Teaching and Learning
Life is exhausting. It’s as simple as that. We are constantly finding ourselves venturing off into new activities and making new commitments, while we already have a chaotic life waiting for us at home! Adults have work and taking care of their children, while students have 8 hours in a building learning and then going home to do even more work! It gets pretty crazy, and some days can have a major toll on our bodies and disable us from doing all that we need to do. When I was in high school, it seemed like every day all I wanted to do after school was nap. My usual basketball game after-school with my neighbors turned into me putting on pajamas and falling asleep to some poorly rated movie on Netflix. Why was this happening? Why couldn’t I find energy to do my homework and necessary studying?
It took a whole lot of ignorance and zeros on my assignments to realize that I needed to knock off my new after-school rituals and come up with an active plan to keep myself awake and motivated. I started making goals for myself and rewarding myself when each of those goals was done. For instance, if I had to write a five page paper I would write 2 pages, and then reward myself by playing a video game for half an hour or going outside and playing with my friends. I found that this was a really good way to plow through my homework, because it actually made it enjoyable and I had something to look forward to. This can easily be applied at a learning center like MaThCliX also. We like to stay really focused on work for about 45 minutes and then spend just a few minutes socializing and talking about things other than school with the students. This really keeps them engaged and lively and has been really effective. I know how hard it is for some of these younger student also who just want to eat a thousand pixie sticks and run a marathon, but using this method really seems to work with them. Academic endurance is important because it keeps students engaged in their work, and we all know how hard it is to put yourself in a hole with assignments and try and climb out!
It’s as simple as making a few goals with your homework and figuring out the best way to tackle all your work before starting. This can make all the difference and can cut down study time tremendously. With a little self-motivation and encouragement from others, we can all pick up the pace with our work and get it all done!
