All Mathematics Tutoring
About
I have been in academia for the better part of 17 years. In that time I have been tenured faculty, a department director for a tutoring center, as well as a chair of a math department at a local college. Additionally, I helped to run a STEM lecture series for women in the field, and helped to found several clubs along those lines. Finally, I was a faculty mentor for several groups of students, helping to ease their transition to other courses and colleges. I have experience in all classes and all academic arenas. I would love to bring that experience to bear on your problems!
Quite honestly I enjoy helping people to puzzle through things. I left academia to enter the world of data science, but I am doing this for the fulfillment of having someone really 'get' a concept, and then create those links needed to be successful. Additionally, one of the aspects I feel is missing and completely underrated is the ability to help students chart a course past just the issues at hand. That is something I made a focus of my work at the college. I look forward to helping you see the entire picture!
Highlights
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Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
Typically I like to sit down and discuss the student's goals. Realistically, the most important thing is to know where we are headed to see how much work we have ahead of us. That should color the depth of material required. It also, to some extent, lets me know how far back we should go to fix previous errors.
Once we have a good path forward I like to determine the current level. What are strengths/weaknesses? I want to determine the fastest way to fix them. I know a lot of people prefer to go back and create this broad foundation and re-learn things from the ground up. That's long, frustrating, and potentially costly. I aim to be DIRECT in making sure we get on track as fast as possible.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I have undergraduate degrees in mathematics, as well as a graduate degree (Masters) in math, as well as education. In addition I have taught math at many levels, in essentially every course on the spectrum. I have a lot of experience on the other nuts and bolts of courses and their testing and evaluation and metrics, etc. Those are helpful, but markedly less interesting to students.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
I do. My standard pricing system is typically per hour, and it is $60. Assuming that there is a single student of course. Multiple students could be less per student. I do not change that per course. College Algebra? Algebra 2? Differential Equations? All the same. GRE prep? SAT prep? Same.
How did you get started teaching?
I got started teaching by being a tutor. From there I became a TA, and discovered to my surprise that I actually preferred the interpersonal interactions to the deep dive research. From there the transition was fairly straightforward:
TA
Director of Tutoring Center
Adjunct
Tenured Faculty
Department Chair
Discipline Chair!
What types of students have you worked with?
I have been in education for over twenty years. I think it's safe to say I have worked with pretty much every type of student!
Describe a recent event you are fond of.
A recent event I am fond of was being invited to a graduation party for a former student. They had gone on to UF, and finished a masters degree in finance. They were originally studying something completely different, but after a statistics class with me we sat and discussed what they hope to accomplish. I expressed that they had some genuine talent in mathematics, and we charted a course to experience some different majors, while still being on a track to graduate with their original choice if they desired. After a year or so they made the jump to finance and never looked back. It was very satisfying watching years of hard work pay off for someone!
What advice would you give a student looking to hire a teacher in your area of expertise?
Never be afraid to ask questions. If someone seems wary of what you are asking then they're probably not right for you. If you ask someone a question and they won't give you a firm answer (even after follow-up) then be wary. There's nothing wrong with some back and forth questions of course, but if you feel awkward then jump ship. Also, ultimately degrees and experience do not mean someone knows what they're doing. If you think someone is not giving you good explanations then switch to someone else!
OH! And probably the most important thing. If someone is not interested in how you are performing, how their work is impacting you then that can be a red flag. I have seen plenty of tutors/teachers who literally only want the extra cash. The money you spend is important, yes, but make sure you are getting everything you want for it. Don't compromise your ideals!
What questions should students think through before talking to teachers about their needs?
Realistically, WORKING through the question is more important than deep thought here. If you can find where your logic flaw is, or where your background is failing you then you probably don't need the teacher! Quite honestly the single most important thing is having put pen to paper and really give the question effort. That will give everyone something to work off of, and it's probably going to be the first thing I would ask you to do anyway! After all, if I can't see a sample of your work, how am I going to isolate gaps in knowlege?