Thinking of Hiring a Math Tutor?

Written by Germain Tanoh, PhD

Many parents worry that their children may not succeed in an increasingly competitive world. They worry that their opportunities will shrink, if they don’t get good grades in math, or if there are not accepted into the right college. You may be concerned that your children will have a less happy life than you do. Such concerns have led many parents like you to turn to private tutoring for the education of their children. Once a small industry for wealthier parents to access, tutoring is now coming to the masses. Tutoring is an efficient way to support your child's unique learning needs while building self-confident and effective math study skills.

Prescriptive Tutoring or One-on-One Tutoring Tutoring has become a burgeoning industry marked by franchising, marketing, and corporate strategies. Parents have more choices today and registering your child in a franchised tutoring centre seems the easiest way to go, but not the most effective. The method used by franchised tutoring centres is called prescriptive tutoring. Every student has to go through the same prescribed program of learning. This method often is based on rote memorization of mathematical concepts. It doesn’t teach math study skills, neither does it take into account the individualized learning needs of each student. This means that after a full day of school and an hour or two at the tutoring centre, the students are then left to do their homework on their own. This is a lot to ask of someone who already feels discouraged about mathematics or challenged by schoolwork. In addition, the presence of others in a tutoring centre can be very intimidating. Students learning capability may be diminished by feelings of shyness, competitiveness, inferiority, or any number of emotions. In a one-on-one tutoring, a coaching relationship typically develops between tutor and student. Your child feels more comfortable asking questions and receiving corrections when he/she is not afraid to make mistake because no one will laugh at him/her.

Effective Math Tutoring A tutor can help guide your child through the labyrinth of content in a way that facilitates learning and reduces math anxiety. Effective math tutoring must meet three specific goals:

1. Supporting the students acquire knowledge and skills in math.
2. Building effective math study habits, including mathematical thinking and math maturity which is the ability to learn complex ideas and concepts with increasing ease.
3. Dealing with math anxiety and the stresses caused by the educational system.

The third item in this list does not receive the attention it deserves. Math is particularly stressful because it requires a level of precise, clear thinking and problem-solving activities quite different than in other disciplines.

What to look for in a Math Tutor As a parent, you will want to know about the qualifications and experience of your child’s math tutor. A tutor is a teacher, a guide, and a coach. Here is a list of some possible qualifications that a good math tutor might have:

• A skilled Mathematician. Expertise matters if a tutor is going to meet the unique needs of your child. The tutor should have good math problem solving knowledge and skills over the range of his or her math content knowledge. Parents should seek someone who is capable of evaluating student’s difficulties and propose actions and a plan to overcome them.
• Math teaching experience. Have considerably experience in helping students learn math. If your child has particular math learning challenges, you want a tutor who is experience in dealing with such challenges. In any case, parents should select a tutor who understands both the theory and practice of teaching and learning math.
• Knowledge of Math Curriculum Standards. Know the school, district, and province math standards below, at, and somewhat above the level at which one is tutoring.
• Great interpersonal skills. The tutor must be able to reach out and make appropriate contact with a student. Parent should pay particular attention to the tutor’s ability to develop a personal, mutually trusting, human-to-human relationship with a student.
• Empathy. Knowledge of “the human condition” of being a student with a challenging life in and outside of school. A good tutor can help your child build self-confidence as a learner. Parents should select a tutor with experience working with the age and level of the student.
• The commitment to making students independent. The long term goal of the tutoring is to ignite intellectual independence. Parents should expect the tutor to help the student develop effective study habits, adapt to the pedagogical style of the school and the teachers. The tutor’s job is not to do the student homework. Parents should select a tutor who can teach their children how they learn, and who can use that knowledge to devise new styles of learning for them.
• Embrace Diversity. A math tutor needs to be comfortable in working with students of different backgrounds, cultures, race, religious faith, and so on. In addition, a math tutor needs to be able to work with students.

Source: http://www.hellomath.ca/blogs-a-articles/90-what-parents-should-know-about-math-tutoring-and-how-to-support-your-child-unique-learning-needs