Simon

I’ve loved solving puzzles ever since I was a little kid. For me, the subject of math is one giant puzzle, filled with infinite variety and creativity. I have a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and philosophy from the University of Chicago and I tutor grades 9-12.

My tutoring style:

I like to have an adaptive tutoring style. Every student learns differently and it's important to be responsive to their individual needs. Once I get to know I student, I find ways to make the subject matter relevant to their daily lives and interests. I believe that everyone has a natural curiosity, it’s just a matter of unlocking it.

Success story:

Two years ago, I worked with an algebra student who had struggled with math her whole life. She told me she lacked confidence because her Dad would say that women are just bad at math, so there’s no point in trying (spoiler: she’s really good at it). One day, we were practicing graphing linear functions in the coordinate plane and she asked me the question I’d heard many times before: “why do I need to know this?” I could’ve given her the standard explanation: that it teaches critical thinking skills, or one day she might need to model cost vs. profit for her business. But this time I tried something different. I gave her a beginner’s introduction to Calculus. When I was done, she was bursting with questions. We spent the rest of the period answering them. The next time we met, it was all she wanted to talk about. I found that giving my student a sense of the bigger picture, what her algebra education was working towards, was what she needed to spark her passion for math.