About

About Me

I am a master’s student in Applied Math at Toronto Metropolitan University, where I also earned a BEng in Computer Engineering (minor in Mathematics). I have been tutoring math around west-end Toronto for 7+ years.

I struggled with math up until grade 10 when I began studying with a friend. From then on I understood the benefits and strengths that come from studying math in small groups. In my grade 12 year, I began teaching math. Since then I have taught 50+ students in grades ranging from 4 to university.

In my free time, I like to read fantasy novels (The Stormlight Archive, Game of Thrones, The Lord of the Rings), play piano (Clair de Lune is my favorite), and play Minecraft with my partner.

My Method

I like to treat my lessons like structured conversations, filled with examples that the students interact with. My main goals are to keep the students engaged and to fill in gaps in knowledge holding them back from completing examples independently.

Students benefit the most from a tailored combination of the following lesson segments:

• General discussion in which I use illustrations, examples, animations, and/or gizmos to clarify overarching concepts.
• Supported examples in which I walk the student through example problems, laying out the logic between each step.
• Independent examples where the students spend 2-3 minutes working on a practice problem, followed by a collective review of their work.

My Philosophy

Math can be an anxiety-inducing subject for students at any grade level (including adults). I believe this anxiety comes from the improper framework surrounding the math. I believe math is a place to learn much more than a list of facts. Math class is the best place to learn life-long skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, logical reasoning, and abstract thinking. All of which need to be taught, but are often overlooked by teachers.

With the correct pedagogical approach, integrating these skills into lessons allows the students to make sense of much more than just a specific example, it allows them to make sense of much broader questions like: “What is math about?”, “Why am I studying math?”, and most importantly “How does what I’m learning fit into the bigger picture of what I already know, and my real-life experiences?”