Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Jump Math - my tutoring gig

yesterday I made a little boy cry. this was in the third and final class of the day. yeah, it was stressful. the lesson was multiplying with "carrying". so, a 2 digit number x a 1 digit number. the little guy had no problems, he was very smart, but he kept trying to guess instead of follow the steps. (he's 8). predictably, he got the answer wrong everytime. i told him, don't guess. follow the steps. you are a smart boy and you can do this. but he was tired and sick of following the steps. so he started crying. the more I told him he was very smart, the more he talked about how stupid he was. oh, man, that hurt me. he just would not believe me.
also, in the first class I was in, I was paired up with a boy who spoke tibetan as a first and english not so much. it took me most of the 20 minute session trying to explain. not his fault, he was soooo smart. I just could not break through. the second class was easy. i went around the class and checked their work, and said "hey! language!" every time I heard one of them swear. (you're dam right i did! 9 year olds swearing? I don't even like it when my kid brother swears and he's 22!) I really enjoy these tutoring sessions. i love telling kids how smart they are and helping them see it. helping them to see that math is really cool is really cool!
okay, then, talk to ya later.

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