1. Our favorite “aha!” moment with a student.
A: Recently, we had a Kindergartener that had enrolled with their older brother and sister. This student understood counting as they normally do either by rhythm, song or other means, but not as a means of understanding quantity. One of the first topics that usually appears with consideration of the students' level is 10 plus a single digit number. Which is a great way to distinguish place value and counting numbers between 10 and 20. This student struggled with this topic for a couple of days, not with the issue of counting 10 and 4 more, but understanding 14 = 10 + 4. For some reason, every time we would work with the student on this topic, we would get a variety of answers until it came to me. This student did not understand counting as a rhythm but rather like the numbers on a non-digital alarm clock where the next digit would just flip forward. It only took a session and a half to realize this because we had him work on other counting topics that he found a bit easier. What we ended up having to do was teach the student to count with their fingers and toes, to show that he had 10 fingers and 4 toes and he counted 14 times. After he admitted it was easier to just leave the 1 there, it was smooth sailing for all the other counting items he has worked on so far. Now, this Kindergartner is advanced for his age and moving forward in a nice pace.
2. A time when a student earned a reward.
A: March 28th. We had a student who had for the past month and a half tried earning enough cards to get himself a "NERF Rifle" and he had started with practically no rewards cards (because he had just spent them all). This last week and a half had been really hard on him as he had really been pushing himself, "I need 5 more cards... I need 4 more cards... I need 3 and a half more cards... I need 2 cards..." Monday's session came along and he knew he only needed a card and a half, and he was getting a seasonal assessment to check on his progress.
We have a reward system here that gives students 100% more credit for every page of assessment material they attempt and complete within the monthly assessments. He knew on March 27th that if he had finished his entire packet and scored well that not only could he have his figurative assessment cake, a happy set of parents knowing that he has grown, but he could also have his "NERF Rifle". He was just a couple of pages from completion when the session ended. End result was March 28th, he came back, finished everything and his corrections, and he accomplished his goal.
3. Positive parent experience.
A: There are many experiences that parents have going to tutoring centers other than Mathnasium, that can leave a significantly negative impression on both the parent and the student. Recently, we had a parent come in and tell us, that other individuals claimed that their child was operating 4 - 6 grade levels below what they were supposed to be. This could have been the case for a variety of reasons not related to math that can include anxiety, not feeling comfortable in the environment or just was having a bad day.
Parent came in to our center and let us know ahead of time that they feel their child was significantly far behind. When a student does come in for their Initial Risk Free Assessment, we do not deny the parent's feelings but it is a good idea to really look at how the student is feeling. Turns out this student knew how to multiply single digits (6 x 4) and they knew what division was (10 goes into 100 how many times) but they didn't quite get the method for multiplying (21 x 6) effectively. Thankfully, that's an easy fix with repetition time and the right individuals working with the student.
Certain things like this are fundamental and easily dismissed for lack of knowledge or understanding. Parents like the idea that we look at the child as an individual and if something doesn't feel right to the student, we want to know the why and how/when the issue started. We treat students as unique individuals with unique situations. Parents that come in for the first time, our focus is to make sure the situation is low stress, comfortable, social and that the children know that this is a safe space to learn.
4. Favorite ways to teach concepts.
A: I love training instructors to find means and methods that work for them while still being able to connect with the students. Some of our instructors are more gaming oriented so they may use examples from Minecraft and Roblox to explain various concepts such as area, multiplication and duration of time. Other instructors are very hands on and will use whole piles of scratch paper to prove their points on Fractional Parts by creating a tossing match of grouped piles of paper.
Our Center Director loves food and the grocery store. Pizza can be used to describe ratios, equivalent fractions, reducing fractions, mixed numbers, percentages and so much more. Making your own sauces may require specific conversions especially if your buying whole gallons, pints, or quarts from the grocery store. What better way to spend time at the store than making a trail mix with a fix budget and teaching kids how to manage real fractional parts on a scale and calculate total cost.
5. A time when a student scored well on a test.
A: We have had many a students fill up our brag board this year and when a student comes to a tutoring center for the first time, it is usually because they are struggling and their parents know it too, or they are doing amazingly well and want to keep that pace going. Thanks to our Brag Board, students consistently want to stay on top of the competition and keep their names up front.
A specific student in mind started off with us at a 50-56% grade for 2nd month in a term. It was a shock to hear that after a couple of months here, that this student not only passed but ended up getting a B Average, even with the additional struggle. Thankfully for the student, the level of support that we can provide is coupled, hand in hand with the student's yearning for success.
