"I have always had a special interest in mathematics. After winning several state math awards in high school, I attended Duke University for engineering and graduated summa cum laude. I continued to study mathematics recreationally, and eventually finished my master's in mathematics (magna) in 2018.

I began tutoring when I was twelve and continued off and on for thirty years. I have paid experience tutoring pre-algebra, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, statistics, calculus, and differential equations, and was employed by Duke as a tutor for two years. My students have ranged from age seven to forty-five. I have tutored mostly one-on-one, but also in a classroom.

My approach to tutoring is to first identify the problematic concepts, which are frequently not the subject being taught. For example, a student may be struggling in calculus because there are still elements of algebra that elude them. Mathematics is cumulative in a way no other subject is.

Once the gaps have been identified, I help the student understand each concept rather than memorize formulas. A student who understands a concept can generalize their knowledge to new problems and also begin to see the beauty of mathematics.

I employ many approaches to teach concepts. One is to make the idea more concrete and less abstract. A student may not understand why 0.3 is greater than 0.25, but they know why three dimes are worth more than two dimes and a nickel. Another is to present a simpler problem with the same concept, such as posing 1/3 + 1/4 to a student who answers 7/12 + 4/5 = 11/17. Yet another is to consider an extreme case. It may not be obvious that a triangle cannot have lengths 17, 15, and 33, but it is when you consider 1, 3, and 10. Finally, visualization, whether it be slices of pizza (fractions) or high-speed photographs (derivatives), often brings an elusive concept home.

In short, my approach is tailored to each student based on their knowledge gaps and employs a variety of methods to teach at a conceptual level." less...