Pre-blog

I’m anxious to begin tutoring a struggling math and science learner; and I mean this in both a positive and negative light.  Before attending Professor Reed’s first class meeting I was nervous that I would have forgotten all of the math material that I was supposed to know for tutoring.  However this feeling was forgotten after our transformational learning experience was explained and I had the opportunity to speak with one of my tutees.  I realized that I would be catering to the needs of the student and could prepare lessons prior to our tutoring session. 

I do not know many specifics about working with students with math and science disabilities.  However, throughout elementary and middle school, math and science didn’t come as easily to me as they did to my peers.  Therefore, I believe I have gained knowledge considering alternative methods of explaining math and science concepts, making it easier for students to comprehend.

From this community based experience, I hope to learn how to pinpoint the areas in which a student might be struggling in a content area and design my lessons around their personal needs and development.  I think it will be interesting to see if the techniques that once helped me can be successfully implemented to help other struggling learners.  From these trial and error based experiences I hope to grow professionally as a pre-service teacher.  I want to provide my tutee with tools and exercises that will not only make them successful in their current endeavors, but also those in the future. 

** I had the opportunity to meet with my ‘B’ day tutee, Destiny A. McIntosh.  Destiny loves basketball, socializing with friends, and hopes to get a pet dog in the near future.  While helping her with a math worksheet, I discovered that destiny has little trouble with computation.  However she has a tendency to forget formulas and operations for various math terms.  Finding a way to commit these terms to memory will be my first step in the tutoring process.