So, Friday I spent the day at the High school turoring math. I had a couple of kids getting help with physics, but most of the kids needed help with math. One student is having trouble with baisc factoring. I'm going to search the web to see if there are any tutorials I can get some material from to explain it differently. Nothing I did helped yesterday. On the other hand I got to see the light go on for two geometry students. You go over something one way and look for the light. A couple of times one student said, "yeah, I get it." But you can tell by the look in their eyes if they do or not. I think kids are used to telling the teacher what they think the teacher wants to hear. I want to know if they get it or not. The beauty of tutoring is it's one-on-one. I can take the time to look in their eyes and go over the material in a different way if I see that they don't get it. I had a really good talk with one geometry student about how trigonometric functions are proportions, like similar triangles. He is a wrestler and the discussion went something like this:
Me: You do proportions already. What weight class are you?
Him: 195 lbs
Me: What do you bench press?
Him: About 210 (I don't remember the exact number)
Me: So give me another wieght class.
Him: 145 Lbs
Me: can they press more or less than you?
Him: less, maybe 160
Me: Why?
Him: He's not as strong.
Me: is it related to how much he weighs?
Him: yea.
Me: how about somebody weighing 130?
Him: about the same as the other guy (in 145 weight)
Me: Why?
Him: he wieghs about the same as the other guy.
Me: You're doing proportions intuitively.
OK, so this ain't rocket science, but it is the most beautiful part of teaching. I get to be a part of a kid's learning. I'm thinking that when I'm finally in a class room, I'll continue tutoring.
