Description
Personal Reflection | 15 minutes

The DR+Math Toolkit was developed with insights from many tutors and students from math tutoring programs around the country. While we included quotes from them throughout the Toolkit, there were still many more we could share. We offer the following quotes, organized around the Developmental Relationships elements, to honor and uplift the voices of these tutors and students.

Express Care

“Even if it's a student that I'm not seeing multiple times, I try really hard to create a safe and comfortable space. So even for that hour or two-hour session, the student doesn't feel stressed. Even though the topic might be really difficult, I think not having as much of that stress pushes them to achieve that goal.” —Tutor V

“In the beginning I always like to talk to them about their interests. Some of them love to draw, some love sports, some love video games, all different interests, but they're all things that these kids are really passionate about right now. So it's always fun to hear and connect with them about why they like these things, it helps build a rapport and a friendship.” —Tutor R

“They're more comfortable to talk with, like with math and stuff. Yeah they're more relatable. They'll hang out with us, and it's fun since we get to learn more about them. And then they also teach us.” —Students Y, K, and B in consensus

Provide Support

“When I was with my tutor, he'd never rush me. He'd wait. He wouldn't just sit there and like ‘ah, will she hurry up’? He'd actually take his time and he wouldn't rush us. But he'd also encourage us to get our work done. I used to go with him for 30 minutes, he wouldn't say, ‘just hurry and do your work’, he’d say ‘hey, let's see if you can get this done in 20 minutes’.” —Student C

“He supports me saying that I should take my time and that I can do it because I tend to give up pretty quickly. So, he helps me stay on track and so I like that.” —Student A

Challenge Growth

“My tutor always tells me that it's okay if you get the wrong answer. It's because practice makes perfect.” —Student L

“I think the competition between each other makes them want to do better. Sometimes they'll say, 'if he can do it, I can do it too.' So, I think that makes them want to do their best versus just going with the flow and thinking I'm going to stay behind or slow.” —Tutor A

“I tell my kids all the time, 'the sky's the limit, and if you don't believe in yourself, how do you expect others to believe in you? You have to do your part in order for other people to believe in you as well.' I tell them all the time, 'you can do it, quit second guessing yourself and do it and give it your all.' That's all we can ask you, give it your all.” —Tutor G

“I have this student who struggled with math confidence the whole time. This week I invited her to come to the front and walk the class through a problem. She came up saying 'I don't even know where to start.' I was like 'No, you got this. What do these mean?' And she was like, 'Oh yeah, it means this. I remember this. It went to that and then to that [solving the math problem].' Then she walked away and it just seemed like she lifted this barrier. We're still working on it, it's not something that just goes away. She has this perception that she automatically can't do something, but if you walk her through it and show her that she can, then she's able to do it and she feels really happy about it.” –Tutor M

“I think they just give me courage, and they push me to do some problems on my own, because they know I'm capable of it. So, for math, since I'm good at it, I would say I'm good at it, it just comes easy to me. So, first they teach me how to do that, and then I can actually approach the problem without struggling.” —Student Q

Share Power

“I personally have found that being honest is important, also I think it closes that gap between students. The question 'okay, if my tutor doesn't know what she's doing but she's acting like she knows, should I be nervous? Should I be concerned?' I never want to have that.” —Tutor V

“The way I connect with my students is I like to joke around with them just because I know that they see us, not as people who are maybe a little bit older than them, but they see us as actual adults and I have to remind them that I'm just a college student and I'm here to have to make it fun for them.” —Tutor H

“I always like to reinforce that math is not something you have to like, it's not something you have to want to do. Really naming it out, students are going to like it because they don't feel pressured to have to like it and want to do well in it. 'It's okay if that's a challenge, that's totally okay,' really bringing a lot of affirmation to the fact that you don't have to be perfect at everything. I think also by adding some personal connections to it, 'hey, math might not be your jam, that was me in high school with science. I did not like it; it was not fun for me.' Relating students to that and then telling them how I got through it has also been really helpful because it gives them that motivation to go through it, realizing that they're not the only one struggling with this, even if it's not a subject that they relate to, at least there’s a person who understands what it's like.” —Tutor V

Expand Possibilities

“The tutors tell us about their struggles with school, and we can relate to that because we struggle with school too. We relate to what they do outside their lives, like sports. And sometimes they tell us stuff that happened in school, like their grades, so we get prepared.” —Students Y and K

“Students say they want to be athletes and police officers and stuff. I'm like ‘so you have to get your education in order to go to college or to be a police officer.’ To be an athlete, some of them can go without education, but you still want education just for that back. If you'll not make it to the football lead, you still have your education and still be able to get a good job, because math is in everything, no matter what kind of career you want, it is in everything.” —Tutor A

“I'll try to bring how math might work in the real world. I got one kid that's a huge basketball player. So, I'll be like, 'hey if you scored 22 points in this game and 18 points in that game and 23 points in this game and 40 points in this game, you could figure out how much you average?' He was like, 'I know what average means, that's how many points you score every game.' I said, 'Well, not exactly. What it is is it takes how much you score in each game, then divides it by the total amount of games you played. And that tells you what your average is.' And he'll be like, 'oh.'” —Tutor Q