Algebra 1 with Iulia K.

Hello, I am a private tutor of 4 years, specializing in mathematics. I graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish major and an Education minor, and I am an English as a Second Language (ESL) Instructor to adults, and a Private Tutor. Why is a Spanish major specializing in instructing students in mathematics? While it has been my privilege to also tutor students in Spanish and English, mathematics has been the subject that I enjoy teaching the most, and I am currently seeking to build a math curriculum from kindergarten to high school, so I want to narrow the subjects I teach down for now, to the ones that I will work on including in the curriculum, so I can better focus on the curriculum and create it more quickly. I have spent over 250 hours tutoring mathematics at the elementary, pre-algebra, and Algebra I & II levels, and I have found that, commonly, if students find math difficult, it is because they need to brush-up on fundamental skills required to do current tasks. When a student has trouble completing a task, I look to see which components of the problem is giving them a hard time or they don't understand, and once I explain the how and why of each component of a problem to them, I give them a chance to practice on their own, to make sure they feel confident that they are able to complete the problems by themselves. I also provide condensed explanations in a review, if a student is ready to move to the next topic. As a tutor, it is my joy to see the logic of how to complete a problem come together for each student, and to see them feel competent in the work that they do. As my "Math for Elementary Teachers - II" professor would say, "focus on the reasoning, not on the procedure," meaning that learning should be based on understanding the relationships between two pieces of information, rather than memorizing a list of steps (without knowing why they are done in that way). Equally important is to be able to see a problem from more than one perspective, which gives students a deeper understanding of math and creates mental flexibility. Together, those two things help create connections in the brain that are long-lasting, and can serve students in future courses, or (possibly), even help students with reasoning in other areas of life. For me, learning is of utmost importance, and I would gladly help you in any way.