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 Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 8:12 pm
Well here's the problem. I am a tutor irl, right now I'm tutoring a 4th grader who got held back to do do 3rd grade level math, because she was doing so badly. She is not mathematically challenged, she is just not focused enough to understand. Her mind wanders a lot. I've met with her for 3 weeks now (1 hour per week) and I feel like I'm not making any progress. She doesn't remember anything we went over the week before, she hardly remembers things I told her a minute ago. Here's my question to you guys. How do I keep her interest long enough to teach her something? How do I make math fun and interesting for an overactive 4th grader.
Anyway I need reasonable method of teaching. Something maybe I can use for a verity of subjects (including, but not limited to: multiplication and division of large numbers, identifying angles and shapes, rounding numbers, using order of operations to solve equations, etc.). Something that a wondering mind can latch on to. Anyway this is important, because I don't want to give up on her, but I feel like I may have to. Help?
Thanks heart
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Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 3:17 am
You've definitely hit a hard age-group there, especially if they are active. The first piece of advice that I would give is that you have to make sure that after the tutoring session, you give her homework so that she can practice. A week is an easy period for a girl her age to forget things, so this must be done if your to keep her memory from fading.
Your second question is a heck of a lot tougher though, and that's how to make math fun when you're teaching her arithmetic. I can't say it works for everyone, but I've found that using/creating word problems can help keep their focus better than a solid number problem. For example, you could ask something personal such as "How old are you?" followed by, "Ah, but how many days old are you?" (as a multiplication problem). This is the best way I can help, since the only other way is to get the parents' involved for discipline purposes. Here's how I'd brainstorm some of your topics.
Division: Dividing up pinata candy among a large amount of children.
Shapes: Give a picture with many shapes in it and ask her to count how many (right angles, rectangles, trapezoids, circles, etc...) there are.
Rounding numbers: Come up with a bunch of populations of countries and ask for an approximation of the total.
Order of operations: Mmm, good luck with that, lol.
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