Ok, I hope you are enjoying your summer but I know in what seems like the blink of an eye school will be starting once again.
So, right now as you are enjoying the wonderful relaxation of summer, set a goal for yourself this year with regard to your math performance. If you normally get C's make it your goal to get a solid B this year. If you usually get B's make it your goal to get up into the A/A- range, etc. Ok, now that you've set your goal, work backwards from there. What will it take to get that result? Daily studying? Extra help from your teacher or classmates? Studying and practicing for quizzes and tests(not just taking them)? Ok let's take another step backward from there. Make a list of all the things you have to do, want to do, and would like to do and block off the time that you will dedicate to all your activities. Is math in there? Figure out when you will do your math and study your math(two different things!) I used to use different strategies when I was in school. Sometimes I would do the subject I disliked the most...to get it out of the way and off my plate. Other times I would do the most important thing first to make sure if I ran out of time that at least that one was completed. And still other times I would get the little things done first to help me feel like I was checking things off and building up momentum before tackling the dreaded subject. Find out works for you and use/devise your own special hacks to maximize your results. Image courtesy of bplanet at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
0 Comments
I'm always encouraging students I work with to continually improve. I, too, work on continually improving my math skills and tutoring skills. In addition to the in-person tutoring that I offer, I'm now adding online tutoring! The possibilities here are endless. If a student is out of town, but still would like to get some tutoring in, we can still meet. Or, some of the seniors I work with go onto college but occasionally wish that they could review some concepts - now they can. And I'd like to make Mario's Math Tutoring available to English speaking students in other places around the world. My first priority is with my local in-person students and would like to use this mode of tutoring to further help them, but it will also be great to help others too. -Mario
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Now is the time to start going back over old chapters and concepts you may have forgotten. Finals are a double edged sword. On the one edge if you do well the 20% towards your semester grade could boost your grade up. However, on the other edge, if they are taken too lightly you can just as easily slide down a letter grade. Here's the secret in case you don't know it already- Finals aim to be comprehensive, but given the limited time to take the test, only the key concepts are focused on not the minutiae. So, knowing this, go back over your old quizzes, tests, chapter reviews in the book, and do the study guide(twice) that your teacher gives you. Focus on the core topics first then dig deeper into the finer details.
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net I had an experience this past weekend that I'd like to share with those that follow my blog here. I was reminded of how tutoring is an investment. Tutoring is an investment of a student's and family's time, effort, and money. One of my long time students recently informed me that they got admitted into all the top schools: U of M, MSU, Stanford, and many more. Not only that, but they were admitted with sizable scholarships too! They decided upon a school that provided them with a full scholarship including books, a computer, and admittance into the medical scholar program(meaning that they were already admitted and guaranteed their seat in medical school). They were very committed to the tutoring and their efforts and investment really paid off. His mother informed me that I played a big part in her student's success and it was nice to hear such a nice compliment.
(Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) The end of the school year is coming and with the nice weather it is even more important to stay focused and finish the year strong. Your study environment, if a good one, can help you get better results in less time. Try different study environments and see which one works the best for you. Generally, I recommend finding a well lit, quiet, undistracted place, where you have enough room to spread your study materials out in front of you. Ideally, you want a place where you can be uninterrupted. Consider hiding that cell phone for an hour or two, or put it on silent and only check it every hour(not every minute :)
When I was in college, I would seek out the most remote and quietest places to study. There were individual study rooms in the graduate library somewhere near the top floor where you could close the door behind you and hear a pin drop. Literally, I could hear my heart beating. Then there was the law library where you had to stake out your spot early in the evening and not dare move less you lose your spot and then close it down at 2 am. But when finals rolled around, every study room, library, coffee shop, nook and cranny of that university was filled with students studying. One semester found me making the rounds to my usual study spots and after finding one after another filled to capacity, I stumbled upon a particular library that had study space available! It was the smallest library on the campus...so small it was housed inside of another building. It focused on a particular subject area exclusively. Can you guess which one? The math library! Ha! It was filled with PhD dissertations, and other obscure math books. There was hardly a person there. So, in a pinch, that little math library saw me and my books there on occasion. Maybe some of that math in there even rubbed off a little on me, who knows? So, stay focused and study well! Summer will be here soon enough and you can take it easy then. (Image courtesy of photostock at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) One thing that I notice is that when students get good at doing mental math(math calculations in their mind as opposed to on their calculator or on paper) they really light up with a sense of confidence and accomplishment. This fuels a positive cycle that propels students to convince themselves that they are indeed good at math and to enjoy getting even better at it. It all starts with knowing your basic multiplication tables, then understanding a bit about the distributive property, and it goes on from there. Take a look at the video below it truly is amazing! You don't have to be as good as this guy but learning a few mental math tricks can go a long way to helping you with almost every math problem you do, making it quicker, and more fun. Should you get a private tutor for your child or take them to the local Mathnasium, Kumon, or Sylvan? That depends on a number of factors: What grade is your child in? If your son or daughter is in 6th or 7th grade or lower I will often recommend this route to parents. These centers really give students the fundamentals they need to be successful at math as they progress to the higher grades. Students become comfortable with all their multiplication tables, fractions, decimals, develop an overall good number-sense, and more. Are general math skills needed or help with what your child is working on in their class today? Often these math learning centers have their own math curriculum that a student progresses through step by step at their own pace. But, if what your child needs at the moment is help with what is happening yesterday, today, and tomorrow in their class then private tutoring is often a better option. Group sessions or individual one-to-one attention? If your child is easily distracted or very much confused or challenged currently in their class then 1 on 1 tutoring could be more effective. All of these are worth considering when deciding which is the best fit for your child and they both have their good points. Is it ever too late to improve? Of course not. At least I don't think so. As soon as a student decides THEY want to make more of an effort things can start to turn around for them. I just bumped into a former student today that is just about to graduate college. This particular student really decided to take it up a few notches once they got to college. They started really digging into their math now that they had a clearer picture of where they were going and that math was a hurdle that they needed to get over to get there. There are so many factors as to why a student doesn't excel in math. It could have to do with a student's early experiences with math that caused them to perceive themselves as 'bad' at math. It could be a lack of effort. A bad repoire with their math teacher could be a deciding factor. A lack of understanding the fundamentals or a poor background with previous math courses can be one's downfall, as well as many many more possibilities exist. Almost regardless of the cause, a student can begin the process of turning things around. Numbers are not going anywhere anytime soon. It's not like you are trying to keep up with a moving target that keeps changing every month or year. So, realizing that, you can begin to go back over what you don't understand with patience and calmness and with a new perspective. What you didn't get before now you can begin to understand which will in turn make other concepts that depend on those fundamentals easier as well. You will begin to fill in the gaps and be able to see how the pieces of the whole fit together. Start where you are and improve from there. The best time to plant an apple tree is 20 years ago but the second best time is today, as the saying goes! Ok you've taken the test and you've gotten a lower grade than you hoped for. You look at the ones you missed and you say, 'I know how to do those now.' Does this sound like you? Why is it that you know the concepts but the test doesn't reflect your 'knowledge?' One of two things is at work here: 1. Either you understand but haven't put yourself through a simulated test taking experience, thus proving to yourself that you need more practice. 2. You are in fact catching on but you are a half step behind where you need to be to really excel on your test. In the former situation, more practice is the remedy. Make sure you aren't just a spectator but an active participant and are putting pencil to paper and working through the steps yourself. If you are in the second camp, you need to get ahead of the game. You need to flip the situation around to where you are a half step ahead. You can do this on your own or with a friend or tutor. Here's what you do: right before class or the night before quickly skim the next section and mentally create the container for what's coming. Some teachers jump around, so you can periodically ask your teacher what's coming up next. You can also preview upcoming topics with a tutor or even watch a few Youtube videos. Hope that helps...if you KNOW a fastball, sinker, or curveball is coming you'll be ready for it. The end of the third quarter is quickly approaching and with the onset of some nice weather ahead keep focused and prioritize your studying. Changes are coming to Rochester area students in the very near future. As you've probably heard by now, the district is swiching over from the ACT test to the SAT test which itself is being revised this summer.
The SAT differs in that there are actually two math sections as opposed to just one on the ACT. Also, did you know that you actually lose points if you get a problem wrong? It is only 1/4 of a point, but if you absolutely don't know the answer or can't narrow down some of the choices, guessing can work against you. Furthermore, 20% of the test is "free response," whereas the ACT is 100% multiple choice. On the SAT you bubble in the answers to these questions as a fraction or rounded decimal. Furthermore, the terminology that is used is being changed to reflect our current use of vocabulary. Content is being geared to better suit what is needed in current college degree programs and careers. All of this is being rolled out starting this summer(2015) and it looks like juniors will begin taking this new SAT test starting in the spring of 2016. For more information see https://sat.collegeboard.org/home |
Mario DiBartolomeoHelping students succeed in math for over 15 years. Individualized attention makes the difference! CategoriesArchives
August 2023
|