Callie

I have always been passionate about mathematics and am excited to share that passion with others! I have a bachelor's degree in mathematics with an emphasis on statistics and a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Eastern Washington University. I have tutored grades 3-College for more than a decade.

My tutoring style:

I truly believe that anyone can learn and even enjoy math. Tutoring is about talking with the student in a way that makes sense to them. My vast math background allows me to meet the student where ever they are in thinking about a problem and guide them into thinking more critically about it. There are often many ways to solve a problem. In large classes, individuals’ unique solutions are often overlooked. Unfortunately, this can cause people to believe they are not good at math just because their way differed from the way that was talked about in class. One of the many things that I love about tutoring is being able to explore an individual’s unique way of looking at a problem and the “Aha!” moment they have when they see that they are great mathematical thinkers!

Success story:

I have often heard students tell me that they are just not good at math. I truly believe that everyone can be good at math and I love being able to show that to each and every student. The most memorable example of this was an 8th grade girl who was convinced that she would never be good at math and was often in trouble at school. Her parents had struggled with math too, so she was convinced that some people are just not born good at math. She planned to drop out of school and build garages like her father did, even though what she really got excited about was biology. At first she was unwilling to do any math. After convincing her that even to build garages she would need a little math, she agreed to work on area and cost problems with me. After showing her that she could be successful at the math needed for building garages, I encouraged her to try her hand at a growth model investigating how many bacteria would be in a dish after a certain amount of time. She was willing to try this because of her previous success working problems with area and cost. She discovered that she could do the math needed for biology! She decided that she would study biology instead of build garages. In addition, she was a much more easy-going student after this. I believe this is because she was happy to be pursuing her real interest. Not only did she start believing that she was capable of doing math, but she also started enjoying it!

Hobbies and interests:

I often spend my spare time drawing. (There are so many connections between math and art!) I love playing strategy games like Settlers of Catan and Chess! I also enjoy hiking with my aussiedoodle Einstein.