The WyzAnt Tutors Blog at WyzAnt.com

Summer 2012

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Regina A.

The summer is definitely a time for relaxing from the stressors of school and assignments, but it's also a time to reflect where you are academically, what you want to accomplish in the next school year, and what strategies you can use to improve your overall school performance. So have some fun, enjoy your family time, visit with friends, travel etc, but also make a personal commitment to get organized, prepare a reasonable study schedule, and learn some additional test-taking skills so you look great on paper as well as in person.

Surviving Summer School

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Dolores F.

The words that many of us DREADED hearing when we were involved in our own primary and secondary school education: SUMMER SCHOOL. With summer upon us, many familiar things will be happening; some families will be traveling to visit extended family and friends; some children whose parents share custody may be traveling to spend time with the other parent; and even, those who can't afford travel in these challenging times, will have extra opportunities to just "hang out" at home on the stereo, computer or game system, visit friends, spend the week with nearby relatives, sleep late, watch movies and have sleepovers. In the words of Mary Poppins, "These are a few of MY favorite things!" and they may be some of yours, too.

However, for some of us, we did not travel; nor did we have sleepovers or movie nights or water park trips---at least, not until we completed our obligation to DO OUR BEST IN SUMMER SCHOOL! :O/ Okay, you've made it this far, hang in there with me for just a few more minutes. I'm not trying to cause you nightmares or flashbacks (I'm a therapist, remember? :O)), but what I am trying to help you remember is how much you teased Robert or Juan or Deborah or Ebony "back in the day" when they had to take summer school. Perhaps YOU were teased because you failed math or writing, and the school insisted that your parents send you to summer school. The idea was to help you salvage that year's learning before your peers moved too far ahead of you for you to ever catch up with them. Remember what that was like?

Now, consider how much more fun (and/or mischief)young people can get into today: play video games or RPG's; watch movies on a computer or a wide screen TV; play around on Facebook with friends in...say...Australia or Senegal; be an extra in a movie, play virtual games on a WII, visit Old Tucson or play Paint Ball with friends. Now, imagine you were able to do all these fascinating things...until you hear the horrific words, "But, not until you finish summer school and get better grades than you did in your regular classes." Sends chills up your spine, doesn't it?

Well, since we love our children, even when we're disappointed in how little time they studied or in how little homework they actually completed (or turned in, if they are ADHD/ADD), let's not gloat over their misfortune, no matter how tempting it is. Instead, here are some tips that might help your son or daughter survive, "The summer I had to go to SUMMER SCHOOL." (Imagine some dramatic music here...duh duh duh duhhhhh...)

1. Please don't rub his/her nose in it. Summer school has actually HELPED many of us not to repeat a grade.
2. Attempt to treat the situation as though it's an inconvenience, but not a disaster or a tragedy.
3. Don't discuss your son's/daughter's misfortune with others in a negative way unless you want to create more shame in your child than he/she already may feel.
4. Encourage your student to do his/her best. Help the student set goals for achievement, including regular study hours during the week. And, through the use of a token economy, allow him/her to earn some fun privileges.
5. Allow your student to discuss his/her feelings of embarrassment, frustration, etc., so that those "stuffed" feelings don't prevent him/her from learning as much as possible (I'm still a therapist).
6. If you used to prepare lunches for school, please don't stop now. Your student needs all the support you can afford to give.
7. See if you can help your student have a sense of humor about the situation. Laughter can make even mountains turn into molehills. The key is to laugh WITH, and not AT, him or her.
8. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LECTURE OR PREACH. Do your best to normalize this situation.
9. Provide the student with extra help if it's needed, such as tutoring at the library or call someone at WyzAnt and arrange to have one of us come and do what we do best.
10. And, last, but not least, if your student says they are ready to give up, don't freak out. Tell him or her something like, "Okay, for this afternoon, you can give up. Go see a movie or go take a swim and try again this evening (or tomorrow, if that seems appropriate)."
11. Arrange a tiny celebration for your student once each goal is reached; and, a bigger celebration when the task is complete.
12. Praise your student for following through with his goals.

Here is a teaching opportunity for you as a parent/guardian/supportive individual: Life is full of challenging opportunities that can make us want to give up on achieving our goals. Not only will completing this goal successfully allow your student to keep pace with his/her peers, but it can establish a pattern for how your student deals with challenges. Help your student learn to face challenges with humor, commitment, flexibility and WITHOUT shame. In the long run, your young person will thank you for it!

I wish each and every one of you a great, safe summer!

Teaching Students to Use Parentheses

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Ivan N.

There are many situations where using parentheses during a calculation makes it tens times more likely that an error will not occur. A simple technique of always putting terms that are divided into parentheses, or especially while working with trigonometry always helps us understand which terms are actually being worked on. It is also very important when entering numbers into your calculator. The order of operations can only help you so far and let us not forget those annoying syntax errors than can eat up valuable moments during a test. One of things I have noticed is that students in earlier math courses are not encouraged to put parentheses in, even perhaps when they are not needed. I disagree with this stance because if we get them used to using parentheses early on they will do it naturally when it really counts. During my first Calculus course I had a very good handle of the product rule and could apply it to very complicated functions. While doing an in class lesson many of the students got the wrong answer while solving a trigonometry related problem because they did not put their sine and cosine values inside of parentheses. I personally begin using parentheses with a student right away in algebra with the knowledge that it could one day save them time and accuracy. Remember it can be hard to always tell the fact that cos x + 2 is supposed to actually be {cos (x+2)}.

End of the Year!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Diana G.

As the School year comes to an end, I want to take this time to thank each of my Awesome Students and Parents for the hard work and accomplishments these past few months. You have proved to yourselves that hard work does pay off! Your grades show the effort that you have put into your studies.

But don't stop here! Some of you I will continue to see this summer, some next school year, learning is an everyday process. Open your minds and learn from every experience. Hone your math skills as you shop, pick up a newspaper and read current events, organize your rooms and study areas so every step you take is effective and efficient. All of this will improve your ability to learn next school year.

Your School career will end in such a few years, so make the most of this time, you have amazing minds and wonderful ideas, put them to use!

Don't forget those Summer Reading projects, complete them early. Putting things off until the last minute is not a good way to start off a new School year.

I will be available through the summer, text, email, or call!

Thanks again for letting me a part of your learning experience!

Hello World!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Jason F.

Hello Everyone!

I'm just starting out my Tutoring Enterprise. I was a TA for 7 years, and I guess now I'm a TE, lol. I got my Masters in Physics from Stony Brook University on Long Island, NY. I got a BS in Physics from the University of Utah, with a minor in Mathematics. Soooo, I pretty much know everything ;) I have some of the cheapest rates on the site too.

Salt Lake Valley, I'm ready to be your Tutor.

Jason

Prologue

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Yoshie K.

This is my first entry, and thank you for reading!

Nice to meet you all :)

Somehow I am fascinated with words and languages.

I used to think that I may want to be a linguist and teach at a college somewhere.
But, I realized that I needed a lot of serious devotion to become a linguist.

So I shifted my career path to something a bit different.

My very first part-time job was a waitress when I was 18. It was good experience for me. I learned that making money is hard! But when I got a English Teacher Assistant job at Kumon in Japan, I still remember that I thought it was fun and something that I would be excited to do. Since then, teaching or tutoring has been part of my life.

While going to college, I started to be interested in teaching my first language, Japanese, as a second language. And studying how to teach Japanese as a second language grabbed my interest so deeply, that I had to be a linguist to see Japanese objectively like a second language. Since then, my teaching Japanese saga started!

I wanted to have something new and different experience for myself after my college. I worked as a sales associate, using both English and Japanese. One of my reasons for success in a sales was word choice. I would not be successful without that knowledge. A few professors from my English and Communication departments' taught me that through classes!

Well, I guess I can consider myself as a mini linguist :)

U.S. among the top at International Math Olympiad

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Ying Y.

In recent years, about 100 countries participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). The U.S. team has been consistently come out among the best of the best, winning the second place in 2011. It won the first place in 1971, 1981, 1986, and 1994; the second place in 1974, 1978, 1983, 1985, 1992, 1996, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2011; the third place in 1975, 1976, 1982, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2010.

Just like any Olympic game, the countries cannot be on the top without the strong participation by its citizens in the sports. With my many years experience in tutoring math, I am not surprised that the U.S. team achieved such extraordinary accomplishments. There are some aspects of math education in the U.S. that few other countries can match. For example, the high school class size is only 15 to 20 students for the students that I have tutored. The class size of my own high school in China was 50 to 56. Although I was on the math team that was prepared for the International Mathematical Olympiad, China, as a country, did not participate IMO until after I graduated from high school. Seeing my students do well today is my great pleasure and serves as a compensation for my lost opportunity in high school.

Hello Mile High City!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Brittany S.

Hello WyzAnt! I am in Denver, Colorado until mid-August. I will miss all my students back in Houston - but can not wait to meet new students for some summer tutoring. Don't worry - I know that it can 'drag' having to do school work over the Summer, but I promise that I will make your learning as enjoyable as possible! Remember, the more you put into your studies - the more you will get out of school for a successful tomorrow!

Service Learning

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Kathryn D.

Okay!

So, I haven't posted in a while, and it's best to keep updated, right?

Well, Spring 2012 semester, I took my first Education class at Chandler-Gilbert Community College.

First things first ... they made us get an $85.00 state finger print clearance card that all teachers are REQUIRED to have, and that is valid for six years. If you want to see, let me know before hand.

Secondly, they made us all do 30 hours of service learning; that's working in a classroom, with students, under the guidance of the mentor teacher. I did my service learning in a first grade classroom (up to 44 hours now), and I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to be a teacher! I could go on for hours about them, but that's not the point of this post.

Thirdly, we had to make an e-portfolio, showing off what we've done.

Any questions? Feel free to ask me!

~Katie

The Rewards of Tutoring!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Juan G.

After facilitating the learning of Geology with a bright and dedicated student, his father passed the following message:

"Juan,
We can't thank you enough for all of your help. Yes, we will let you know how the final goes. And the pleasure has been ours, you are a wonderful 'teacher'!!"

I can equally say, my student was equally wonderful!

Assignment Calculator

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Kellie C.

If you struggle with organizing your assignments, and your time, try the University of Minnesota's Assignment Calculator!

Go to http://www.lib.umn.edu/help/calculator/, plug in the date you will begin the assignment and the date it is due, and presto! The calculator breaks down each part of your assignment in an easy-to-manage day-by-day schedule.

Problem Solving

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Elizabeth G.

There are many different ways to attack a math problem. One way is to draw a picture. Especially when a concept is new, students who are visual and/or kinesthetic (hands on) learners might SEE the problem more clearly by having the problem drawn out for them, or by drawing it themselves. I don't mean break out the stick-men and stick-women (although, sometimes that can help, too). By using letters, circles, dots, Xs, or whatever is easiest for you, it can make a difficult problem seem much less daunting. For example: "Ron, Jake, Sara and Mikal are meeting at the library. If each student shakes hands with each other student only once, how many handshakes will there be?" Direct your student to write the letters "R", "J", "S" & "M" in a circle, then draw lines between each letter once, making sure to connect each person with the other 3. Now count the lines! It's just one more way your learner can attack a word problem that may otherwise seem too difficult. Be careful! Younger students, or students who are a little more particular might get caught up on making their drawing look "pretty." Show them it's OK to have less-than perfect circles, or uneven boxes...unless of course, you are solving a problem that requires the drawing to be a bit more precise. Just like anything, practice the skill, and it will come easier in time.

Tutor Preparedness Continues To Be Very Stylish

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Bruce H.

As this current 2011-2012 school year is rapidly drawing to a close, it is instructive to reflect on how tutor preparedness, particularly when having dealt with long-term clients, has proven to be highly beneficial.

On numerous occasions, having had at hand backup textbooks, lecture notes, assorted visuals, test banks, and even graph paper has enabled students to have more effectively mastered challenging concepts.

For example, students have found themselves solving additional chemistry problems ranging from levels 1 through 5 in difficulty from a college-level test compendium and in preparation for upcoming semester AP Chemistry exams. In addition, if students have had no current material to cover at a session, the next chapter(many times from a college text) in the course syllabus was previewed and appropriate problems were attempted.

Yes, as has been noted in a previous blog post, both student and tutor preparedness at EVERY session are required for enhanced student achievement over the long-term.

Want to learn beginning Guitar?

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Laura S.

A NEW "BEGINNING" guitar class will begin in mid-June, Sanford, FL. Class size is limited to 6 and will meet 90 minutes one day per week. Interested students (age 12+) send me an email for more details. Must have your own guitar (nylon strings are easier on beginners) and purchase the book. ($20 per session) Please contact Laura S. through email/Wyzant.com

Travel Tip - Accessing Euros

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Lou T.

When going to Italy an important thing to keep in mind is accessing euro. In the past travel checks were in vogue for accessing easy cash. The last 20 years most use the ATM when traveling abroad. In Italy (Il Bancomat). Please be attentive when using il bancomat. Not only will the local bank charge you a fee to access money but your stateside bank will do the same. In other words if you withdraw 100 euro it may cost an additional 10 euro tariff to acquire the cash and the US bank will charge you an additional fee of $25.00 to $50.00 each time you withdraw cash.

If you check with your US bank some have a reciprocal arrangements with foreign banks where there is only one fee or the fees are reduced.

Buon viaggio

Celebrate, Laila!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Sheryl N.

It was fantastic to work with Laila! As we began, she had knowledge and ability, but not all the confidence, study skills, and test-taking skills she needed to shine. By the time of her exam, however, she got the highest mark available, and was able to skip ahead a full class level in her language studies! Laila, it's time to celebrate!

Britney - Tutor

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Britney T.

I love proofreading to make sure that articles or papers are accurate in the way of spelling and grammar. I hate when I see websites or newspaper articles with mistakes. The CNN website recently misused a word. They wrote "through" instead of "thorough". Even with modern spell check and grammar check, there is still room for error. "Pobody's Nerfect" (Nobody's Perfect) So let me help double check your work!

Congratulations to Niesha for getting an "A" in her graduate-level STATISTICS class!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Paul C.

Congratulations to Niesha for getting an "A" in her graduate-level STATISTICS class!

The Learning and Business Tool - the PowerPoint Presentation

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Juntee T.

Learning Facilitator:

PowerPoint aids meaningful learning. The normal teaching or training becomes interactive when sessions or lessons are presented through PowerPoint. Many learning environment of today, utilize presentations to share various topics that are curriculum-based to students.

Corporate Trainer:

PowerPoint is an essential software tool of today’s corporate training interactive session. Majority of top executives, managers of various business units, use this powerful tool to share business information with their team members, colleagues, and or associates. Such tool will facilitate better idea, interactive and more effective learning about essential information of their business. It is the goal of every trainer to achieve results when using this tool.

Business Presenter:

Professionals, who are empowered to share and or close business with intended audience, utilize powerful tools and options like Microsoft PowerPoint. It makes it easier for people in marketing, advertising, sales, business developers, managers, leaders and other business people to incorporate their ideas, stratagems, values, services and products information.

With the right technical knowledge and experience of the user, teacher, coach and or trainer in using PowerPoint software, learning will be optimized with impactful development of the learners. In the 21st Century technologically-based concepts are useful tools for meaningful learning.

Upgrade!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Christopher B.

Haven't had much to post about on here, everything has been great with students so it seems a bit silly to toot my own horn on that end. (irony of that statement is not lost on me.)

However! In the last two weeks I got a whiteboard which was actually really awesome. I never thought I would get excited about a whiteboard and some dry erase markers, but they make explaining concepts SO much better than paper/pen drawings. I take my whiteboard to all of my sessions and I get to use it at least 5 or 6 times every session which is great.

The first key was that I had to get a backpack large enough to carry a good sized whiteboard, then it took me three trips to different Staples stores to find a whiteboard in NYC. Really Staples?? You don't have whiteboards in every store?? Well, after jumping over that hurdle I've been able to make great examples and explain concepts even more easily.

I'm thinking about getting a smartphone or bringing a camera with me to each lesson so I can photograph every illustration for my students so they aren't lost to them. While memory is great, having a picture that they can refer to on their computer or phone is a significant upgrade, so now the question is do I get a smartphone or should I just go with a camera?

The Value of Posters

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Gaston M.

Recently, I had my students create their own posters with important data for their upcoming math exams. Memorizing formulas and theorems, remembering which quadrant has a negative tangent, etc., can be a serious chore for most students. But if the student's bedroom can host a few posters (11 x 14 inches) with the pertinent data, memorization is greatly enhanced.

Large (2 inch high) letters drawn by chisel tip black magic markers on a white background is the optimum vehicle for such a project. Leave white space for comfort, don't overcrowd the board. Post two or three at a time, so that you can see them several times a day.

Alternate posters weekly till the material sinks in. Study one hour a night, every night to maximize memory.

This can be done for all subjects which test the student's ability to memorize. And it is good for the student to learn how to do this on his or her own, a valuable tool for any difficult subject.

Weekly Options for Test Preparation

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Courtney H.

We still have another round of tests coming up, and it’s not too late to get some help preparing for whatever test you or your student are going to take. I have various options available in the coming weeks, both private sessions and group sessions. Please don’t hesitate to contact me for full information.

Summer Programs

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Courtney H.

Now is the time to plan for Summer Tutoring. I will be offering a full schedule of tutoring for the summer, including some interesting group sessions and summer programs. Call for more information!

Pronunciation Tip: How to pronounce the "U" at the beginning of a word.

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Mindy S.

English is a language that seems to have more exceptions than rules, and some some aspects that don't seem to have any rules at all. This makes English one of the most difficult languages to learn. I will therefore do my best to share some of the pronunciation/language tips that are lesser known. These can be very helpful in cases when a word can seem puzzling.

"U"- The long and short vowel pronunciation. When a word starts with a "u", how do we know whether to pronounce it with the short vowel, as in the word "under", or the long vowel, as in the word "universe" or "union"?

The trick is to look at the third letter after the "u". If the third letter is a consonant, the "u" is pronounced with a short sound. You can see this in words like:

understand, umbrella, usher, urge, undo, etc.

The third letter of all the above words is a consonant.

On the other hand, if the third letter is a vowel, the "u" is pronounced the long way. We can see this in words like:

union, university, unit, uterus, use, etc.

The third letter of all the above words is a vowel.

I hope this is helpful when not sure how to pronounce the "u" at the start of a word. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Have a lovely day!

Mindy S.

Portuguese Speaker Teacher

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Christiane T.

I'm a native speaker of Portuguese.

I have a Bachelor's Degree in business administration and Post-graduate degree as well. I will be helping you learn Brazilian Portuguese.

Please contact me via email. It will be a pleasure for me to assist you in learning the Portuguese.

Christiane

Hello World!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Deborah R.

I am off on another adventure and looking forward to meeting lots of wonderful people through tutoring! Teaching is my passion and I am thinking about tutoring as a full time job in the near future. So until then, I will get my feet wet through WyzAnt, bringing with me many years of teaching ESL and computers to share with any new traveler I may meet along the way. I just got my first tutoring job and I am most excited to help others through my skills as a teacher. I hope to see you on one of my many journeys, but until then, I wish you well.

Conditional Clauses

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Bethany N.

Eye brows are up for conditional clauses, but how do you know when it's a conditional clause?

It's easier than you think.

First remember that a conditional clause is ASL is always at the beginning of a sentence. Then, all you have to do is remember these few easy words.

If/Suppose
When
Happen
Before
After

Three ways to show how math is used in "real life"

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Ron G.

If I had a dollar for every time a student in a math class has asked me "how do I use this in real life?" I'd have a paycheck. But, like it says in the song, "if I had a million dollars, I'd be rich."

I'm asked this most often by Algebra 2 and Geometry students, so here are three things I can show them.

(1) The Rule of 72. Which states, in probably over-simplified form:

"If you take the number 72, and divide it by your interest rate, the result is the number of years it takes for the principal to double."

That's a pretty good simulation of compound interest there, especially for rates around 15% or less. This way students can see how fast a credit-card balance can balloon up, without their having to fool around with the formulas. Once they get the idea, the formulas don't seem so bad.

(2) The break-even point. This is a simulation of a system of two linear equations:

- One is for the money a company brings in via sales. You assume a length of time before the sales kick in (x-intercept) and a sales rate per month (slope).
- The other is for the company's expenses. You translate salaries, leases, utilities, insurance, marketing, etc. into a rate per month (slope) with a fixed value (y-intercept).

The point where the two lines intersect is the break-even point. The area to the lower-left shows loss; the area to the upper-right shows profit. If the students' imagined companies start making money right away, they haven't thought the problem through. Apart from that, any Algebra 2 student can do it.

(3) The blind robot arm. This takes three cardboard tubes (at least two paper-towel size; the other can be smaller), three rubber bands and a pencil. But it takes a minute to put this together.

- It works best if two of your tubes are of different diameters. Because what you will do is cut two slots in each tube and pass a rubber band through each slot. (WyzAnt really needs to allow images here.) One tube on the outside, one on the inside, with a rubber band passing through both. Repeat with the other two bands, so you are surrounding each tube with rubber bands. When you turn the inner cardboard tube, you stretch the three rubber bands until they meet at the center.
- The stretched rubber bands can be used to grab the pencil from a desk or table-top. This becomes your robot hand.
- BUT. The third tube is the scope - the robot vision - that you use to find the pencil.

The experiment works best with two students - one to look through the scope and the other, blindfolded, to operate the hand. The students must judge distances and angles without seeing everything at once, but seeing everything they need to retrieve the pencil. And this is how a live robot arm works.

Students who survive these lessons generally don't ask me about "real life" again. :-)

Inspiration

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Lana M.

Recently, in one of my college prep American Literature classes that is particularly enthusiastic (ie. chatty and overtly energetic : ) , I received an urgent call for one of my students to report to the main office. This student has had an extraordinarily difficult year for a variety of reasons: many of which are well beyond her control. Although her attendance is less than stellar as a result, in part, of her circumstances, she has managed to maintain passing grades in her classes. However, she often neglects to attend the detentions she receives as consequences of her non-attendance when she is, in fact, able to attend school but chooses to spend her days elsewhere. Hence, the urgent call during my class recently.

Before I wrote her a hall pass to the office, I asked her if she wanted to wait and for me to go with her---we have a close relationship. She, as many of my kids, come to me when they haven't eaten (I always pack extra sandwiches!!) or don't have a pencil or need a notebook or someone to simply listen without judging. In any case, she told me why she skipped the Saturday school that she was assigned and her explanation seemed reasonable to me. I offered to speak to the principal but stressed that she needed to take responsibility for her choice of not speaking with him beforehand and of dealing with the consequences of her choices. She sighed, said she understood then said, "Miss M, we all know how much you care about us. One day, it'll pay off. You'll see. We're gonna make you proud of us".

With tears rolling down my cheeks, I replied, "I am ALREADY proud of you. One day, I want YOU to be proud of YOURSELF". We hugged and she was crying, too!

My beautiful students continuously inspire me and make me want to become the best version of myself that I can possible become.

Best Feeling in the World!

posted by WyzAnt tutor: Roxanne R.

For someone who loves helping people, nothing is better than getting a phone call from a parent saying that their child, who came to you failing prealgebra, has a 95 average, and that they will be calling you for help next school year! I am so proud of her for working hard and doing what she needed to maximize her potential.

On an tangent thought...

Second best feeling in the world is having your 1st grade sister come up to you, bursting with happiness and explaining to you that math is fun, and she wants to learn multiplication.

I only hope that someday, when I have my own children, they will be that excited about learning.