What do I enjoy most about tutoring? 😁

What a great conclusion when a wrong answer is interesting, that is, someone's operating a coherent model with one bad joint in the model — and this one fixes 20 other things at once. I like explaining something, so I actually have to hold it—because otherwise I don't know what to talk about, I don't know what to explain. I like the puzzle of, like, where does it go in their mind?

My Strengths as Tutor 💪

Mostly — I can listen to an incorrect answer and figure out what rule you're using, I have a lot of other explanations if my first one gets bounced. I'm also extremely patient, so asking the same question six times isn't a problem. The other side: I can't see your face, so I miss out on the ambiguity of unvoiced words, and I tend to give too much information when you were looking for one.

Most important things I can do for a student 🏅

For one thing, make themselves superfluous — the point is to have a student who can get unstuck, and the most useful strategy is always to ask the question that will help her discover her own answer. Beyond that, diagnosing the gap rather than reteaching the surface topic and making it okay to be confused aloud - a student who is confused and guesses at what they don't know can never be helped. They take away something that they can use to put back together, not something that they'll forget by June, and keeping the why with the how.