A Math Tutor Story

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Math Teachers Chatboard

A Math Tutor Story

by harpazo

Aug 18, 2014

Allow me to share this with you. I think I started online tutoring around 2003 a few months prior to the death of John Ritter.

Back then, I was on AOL and I did some "live" tutoring using mom's computer. It was a like a private chatroom, working one-on-one. Eventually, I ran into a couple of truly annoying students. So, I stopped that practice. Now I do my helping at various math sites.

I remember a male student whose brain was truly lost in space. I'd be explaining a concept to him and he'd come up with another question (sometimes it was related to our topic, sometimes not). I'd try to get him back on track, but he'd come up with even more insane questions.

I'd spend two hours with him and not accomplish anything. The last straw came when he bounced me around for an hour. Then he dared to say, "Wait a minute! You're all over the place!" That did it! I love tutoring but people are more complicated than formulas.

Another student was a high school gi...See MoreAllow me to share this with you. I think I started online tutoring around 2003 a few months prior to the death of John Ritter.

Back then, I was on AOL and I did some "live" tutoring using mom's computer. It was a like a private chatroom, working one-on-one. Eventually, I ran into a couple of truly annoying students. So, I stopped that practice. Now I do my helping at various math sites.

I remember a male student whose brain was truly lost in space. I'd be explaining a concept to him and he'd come up with another question (sometimes it was related to our topic, sometimes not). I'd try to get him back on track, but he'd come up with even more insane questions.

I'd spend two hours with him and not accomplish anything. The last straw came when he bounced me around for an hour. Then he dared to say, "Wait a minute! You're all over the place!" That did it! I love tutoring but people are more complicated than formulas.

Another student was a high school girl who just wanted her homework done. She was not interested in learning. I'd get through explaining the procedure and she'd say, "Yes, but is that the answer right?" I stuck with her for a while, hoping she'd catch on but no such luck.

She'd get an A for turning in correct homework (my homework!). This teen girl certainly flunk all her exams. She never learned how to learn. Always the same question "But is that the right answer?" You can understand why I dropped her. This girl had a major issue separating sin from sine.

I feel good about my knowledge of Mathematics. When people ask, I say, "I'm an online tutor." They usually say, "Oh, you're a Mathematician!" I'd have to correct them. I am not a mathematician. I am far from being a mathematician. I am just a tutor with a passion to solve for x. I just love math. I get excited when I see, for example, integrate cos (2x) dx or find f '(x) when given f(x) = x(x+1)^100.

People ask really silly questions. If someone says, "I teach Literature," do you say, "Oh, you're a novelist!" If someone says, "I teach Anatomy," do you say, "Oh, you're a surgeon!" I am not a mathematician. I am a simple, lonely guy in a bad place in bad times who finds pleasure in the land of numbers.

Let's face it. I am bald, fat, live in a tiny room with no window, work in a low-paying job, have very little friends and just turned 49. I am not sociable. I hate crowds. People shun me all the time because my personality is odd or so they say. So, why not find something to do, right? Why not continue running with math? What do you say?

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