I melted down while tutoring someone...

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LonelyJar
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19 Mar 2015, 1:06 am

A few days ago, I was trying to tutor a middle-schooler face-to-face, and one thing led to another, and... I broke down. I totally melted down in front of him, but instead of taking out my aggression on him, I started talking smack about myself. I explained to him that I was good at doing math problems, but not excellent at explaining concepts to someone who was significantly lacking in mathematical knowledge. I appreciate how remorseful he was for something that wasn't even his fault, and I'm glad that his family found someone who can ACTUALLY TUTOR, but this incident has convinced me that I need to get my act together before continuing my job search; next time, things might get uglier. I honestly don't know what my most pressing issues are or how to go about overcoming them, but I can tell you that I've got a bad diet, I don't exercise enough, and I spend too much time online to get a good night's sleep every night.

Does it sound like I should work on those things first? Do you think there are more pressing issues that need to be addressed? Should I multitask improving myself and finding a career, and if so, how?



kraftiekortie
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19 Mar 2015, 8:47 am

I believe that you should work on what you mentioned in your post.

I also believe you should try tutoring in a subject in which you could explain complicated concepts in a simple manner.

I wouldn't give up on the tutoring. Maybe you just have to be exposed to it a few times in order to get used to it. One learns from one's mistakes.



Kiriae
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19 Mar 2015, 9:38 am

I am also currently tutoring a middle schooler math so I can relate.

I was sort of forced to tutor him though. He is my cousin and my aunt decided I should tech him math because I used to be good at math when I was at school. Yet she failed to remember it was more than 6 years ago so there are some intimidating situations.

I do remember a lot and I didn't lose my ability to understand math but I fail to remember some concepts so I have to learn too before I explain something to him. It's like this: "What the hell is it? Umm, sorry, I don't think I remember how to do this example..." and I feel like I am about to break down. But then I calm myself - I have right to not remember something because it was quite a few years since I used it, I just have to recall how to do it. And I check his notes or ask google for help and I make up my lack of knowledge pretty fast.

Another matter is explaining what I learned to him though. We do check the same resources but while I am like "Oh, I get it!" he doesn't seem to understand it's even a method to solve the specific problem.

I have to teach him using the small steps method. I make him write down a small part of the solve and ask him if he get what we just did. If he answers "Yes" I make him explain to me what it was. If he says "No" or explains incorrectly I try different methods of explaining depending what his problem is.
If it is a text question I ask him "What are we looking for?", "What data we have?" and "So, how do you think would we could count it? We add this, to this and compare this to this, don't we?".
If it's a formula/method I explain the reason of using it (for example "We use this formula because if you imagine a line here you will get a triangle like this so we can use formulas related to this triangle", or "It cannot be done this way because we don't know for sure we have 90* over here.") or use different, easier examples (for example I explain why 2^459=2^2 * 2^457 using: 2^2 * 2^3=4*8=32=2^5 and 5=2+3).

It certainly tiring but can be done as long as you separate the task on small pieces and explain each of them as specific example. Explaining the whole problem solution is overwhelming but if you focus on small things one at a time you can do it.