Victor

I have been tutoring for over 10 years. I am enthusiastic and always happy to explain things in as many different ways as needed. I adapt to a student’s individual learning style and help them find their own improvement strategies.

Ages I've worked with:

Middle school, high school, college, and adult learners.

My tutoring style:

I let students show me how they approach problems before I provide solutions or hints. I continuously test their understanding by asking questions and make sure they are following. I help them understand the concepts by explaining different analogies and I also help them develop pattern recognition strategies necessary to apply the concepts in concrete examples.  

Success story: 

I was a junior in college and Ernesto was one of my first consistent students. He was in 10th grade but he had a very hard time understanding the most basic concepts. I would break things down for him, explain each step, use colors and theatrical hand-waving. I would cut the ‘x’ from the paper and replace it with a number to explain the meaning of “plugging in”. But then on the first exercise he tried by himself he would make every possible mistake and some more. He would do one problem right, then I would change the numbers (same problem) and he would not know what to do. I have always been extremely patient, but I felt that I was losing it with Ernesto.

Nevertheless, we persisted. I did less of the theatrics and gave him more silent and patient support. He started to show small signs of progress that I would celebrate as great achievements, because they were. He kept trying things on his own and he would show me his work during our session. And even if everything he tried was wrong I felt that he was now reciprocating my efforts. He wanted to show me that he was really trying. He ended up barely passing with a C, but that is all he needed. When we started working together, even a C appeared unreachable. He graduated high school and moved on to be something that had nothing to do with math. It wasn’t his strength. What we both learned in our sessions is that hard work pays off and that the most difficult things can be accomplished if one is willing to make steady, continuous effort.

Hobbies and interests: 

I play guitar and sing. I also love hiking, reading and playing soccer.