My Life as a College Math Tutor

When I arrived at the student’s home, I would sit down with the student in a designated study area and we would work through the math homework, with special attention to whatever the student needed help with. I always enjoyed meeting the parents and kids, and helping them with math.

At the time I felt well qualified to tutor math because my math course level in college was far beyond the material that I was tutoring. I understood the math content, could explain it easily and could demonstrate how to figure out homework problems.

Now I understand that a math tutor needs to be able to do more than explain the math homework. A good math tutor should engage the student so that the student is giving most of the explanations and the math tutor is facilitating the student’s thinking, as a good math teacher would do.

When I finished college, I became a system analyst, rather than go into teaching. After my Master’s degree (M.A., Applied Mathematics, UCSD), I returned to tutoring math. I also taught math in local community colleges and substitute taught in secondary schools.

Now I am a professional math tutor. I have a math studio that is furnished with a collection of math materials that I can use as needed. I no longer sit next to tutees at a table or desk and coach them through their homework. Instead, tutoring math is an active process. I coach students through their thinking and engage them mathematically with whatever tools are needed to build math understanding.

Learn more about what a math tutor should know and do at http://www.ljmlc.com/Programs/Math-Tutoring/Professional-Private-Math-Tutoring.html.