Tag Archives: math

The Tutoring Experience

Posted on by
Reply

This summer, I had the opportunity to tutor for the first time for an organization called MathMatters. I would teach kids, usually elementary schoolers, different mathematical concepts. This was a unique but fun experience, and I have enjoyed helping younger kids grow a liking for math.

For the past few years, I have helped my brother with different subjects, including math and ELA, trying my best to teach him efficiently and effectively. Tutoring for MathMatters allowed me to put this to the test and see what ways of teaching benefited each child the most, while also noticing the differences in personality between each student. This aspect, in my opinion, was the most intriguing part of the entire opportunity. Some students were talkative, while others were more shy and reserved, meaning different ways of communication were essential for a proper session. This process allowed me to understand the difficulty of being a teacher. Teaching requires great patience and compassion, including the ability to interact with all students, knowing each person is unique. While some students understood everything quickly and easily, others required more practice to grasp the concepts.

Overall, tutoring was a unique experience that came with different challenges but allowed me to grow as a person and learn strategies about how to help children in the most effective ways.

Book Review: Math With Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin

Posted on by
2

When you think of math, you probably won’t think of fun at first. However, about a year ago I was looking for a book that was both educational and entertaining, and I found the book Math With Bad Drawings by Ben Orlin. It’s not that well-known but is still a great book, using its witty sense of humor to explain math concepts as well as helping to make math accessible. It’s funny to read and so interesting that you’ll want to read it again and again.

The book helps to explain math concepts such as geometry while never ceasing to keep you entertained. Even though this book is about math, it is one of the funniest books that I have read. It also uses language that anyone can understand when talking about math, making the book more accessible to any reader.

The book also uses doodles to help explain the math concepts in the book, as well as a way to keep the book interesting by adding additional jokes and enriching the book overall. There are many humorous scenarios and explanations throughout the text, but my favorite part is the section about probability that is included in the book, in particular an explanation of how the lottery works.

I enjoyed the detailed explanations in this part, as well as how it used examples from the real world to make this part more understandable. The best part, however, were the doodles, which not only helped to explain the complicated processes behind the lottery, but helping to entertain with a continued sense of humor and using jokes to help explain the concept.

In summary, I enjoyed how Math With Bad Drawings was entertaining and easy to understand. It is similar in style to What If? and XKCD by Randall Munroe, as both help to make math and science concepts accessible and entertaining. There are also many other books in this series, such as Change Is The Only Constant and Math Games With Bad Drawings, so be sure to check these books out! Overall, Math With Bad Drawings is an amazing book that’s great to read anytime whenever you want a laugh or just to learn something new.