Friday M.

I believe every learner has an innate potential to understand and do the math presented to them. As a result, I want to treat my students with respect and be as supportive as possible in the learning process until they attain confidence, correctness, and competence in solving routine and challenging problems.

I will introduce myself and, at the same time, try to get to know the student. Initially, I won't immediately touch on academics. Instead, I would get to know non-school stuff like the student's hobbies; this will help me tailor my subsequent teaching examples to the student's interests. As this will create a relaxed and comfortable environment, I can now proceed to school-related aspects by finding out where the student's strengths are. Bottom line: in my first lesson (and subsequent lessons), I will ensure to create/maintain a calm, conducive, courteous environment for the student and myself.

I will try to inspire motivation for learning because I think motivation is critical. In conjunction with the student, we will set realistic learning goals so the student can know what to aim for and when the aim is reached. When needed, I will provide constructive feedback to encourage the student.

I will try to make learning fun for the student and tailor my examples to the student's interest. Together with the student, we set SMART goals and celebrate the student's successes whenever those goals are reached.

I will explain it in a variety of ways. For example, suppose a student doesn't understand the mathematical definition of a "function." In that case, I will use a graph (visual aid), a table, or an equation to explain it. I will also emphasize repetition because some skills/concepts take time to grasp.

I will determine if the challenge comes from understanding some words used; if so, I will teach some vocabulary. Otherwise, I will employ well-known reading strategies like the SQ3R method (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review).

From my personal experience, strategies vary from student to student. For example, when preparing one of my students for a test, I let the student choose any question from the "end of chapter review" in the recommended textbook; this student usually does well when we follow this approach. In the case of another student, we have to go through each section of a given chapter, followed by the "end of chapter review", followed by past IB questions. The latter student sets high expectations, and that's probably the reason for that approach.

I will try to tailor my examples to the student's hobbies and lines of interest.

For math-related material, I will use graphs, tables, and equations to explain the material in various ways. I will also encourage the student to be patient, knowing that some concepts take time to understand.

I will give the student work to do and provide constructive feedback whenever the work is done. I will celebrate the student's successes.

I will try to build rapport with the student so it becomes easy to know their needs.

If the student prepares for a test the next day or in a few days, I will focus more on revision and question-and-answer. If the student is working towards understanding a particular concept, then I will teach the concept from the ground up.

Recommended textbooks, students' class notes, and my lesson materials.