Overwhelmed by Math

-
My student, whom I'm tutoring in Standard 6 Math, is easily overwhelmed by obstacle when solving Math problems.

If I spot an error, I usually would direct him to the step where it occurs and ask him to determine what exactly the error is and to fix it. Usually he'll protest that he's correct (yes, once in a blue moon I was wrong). Sometimes he proceeds to correct the part that is actually correct, which means the error remains undetected. I then stop him and ask him why he does that. At this point, he's usually dejected already and at times become sullen while making sarcastic remarks.

Usually I just try to give more help e.g. by writing down the working but getting him to tell me the answers to each step and by giving encouragement. However, there was once where I had to stop for a while and asked him, in a rather serious but concerned tone, to tell me his problem. He didn't tell me but I'm guessing, and I told him so, that he is easily overwhelmed by Math problems. He didn't deny that.

My overall teaching method is to get him to understand why certain way works and why some don't, rather just memorising the way to solving problems. Memorisation should only be used as a last resort, as otherwise there are just too many things to memorise.

His loathing for Math is so great that he'll often wish that we can live without Math :) Next, he dislikes the person who invented school (hehe).

Any suggestion on how else I can help him?

Comments

William said…
Cara lembut tak accept, mungkin perlu cara keras. :P
March 6, 2011 at 9:16 AM
Anonymous said…
Point out to him what the lack of education can do--eg, poverty, and those who have to do menial labor. SR
March 6, 2011 at 10:05 AM
Jaded Jeremy said…
William,
Hmmm.

SR,
I sort of did that but more specifically with regard to Math.
March 6, 2011 at 5:52 PM
savante said…
Well I hate math and I also hate the fellow who invented exams! They suck!
March 7, 2011 at 11:52 PM
Janvier said…
Use money to replace meaningless digits. And actual models for geometry ie foldable cardboard boxes for angles etc.

Added future incentive: after college he's not gonna need maths that much!
March 8, 2011 at 1:52 AM
Jaded Jeremy said…
savante,
But they're here and so in the meantime, he has to accept that fact and do well lor.

Janvier,
Thanks for the suggestions.
March 8, 2011 at 1:26 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark - character build (Part 1)

-
Here are the character builds for my current run (with the help of Ban): Kyrie Fellblade/Marked Counter: Slow Secondary passives: Execute, Life Font Fellblade itself is a good class because of the various conditions it can inflict and most importantly they can inflict Sleep. Iirc, the only other human class that can do this is Gadgeteer. Their passive Malice increases the chance of landing it by 10%. Fellblade pairs well with Marked because both use ATK and MND in their offensive abilities. Also, Fellblade's abilities are mostly short range whereas Marked has some long range abilities. Execute for more damage. Life Font is for suvivability. Ban opined that with two healers, there's no need for Life Font but I discover that it enables Kyrie to survive just enough for a healer to heal her up, after having received massive damage. Ban advocated for Marked/Fellblade for superior Speed (1.00 vs 0.92) and defense (heavy armor). I resisted this for a long time because I
Read more

Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark - character build (Part 2)

-
(continue from Part 1 ) Yates Anatomist/Wizard Counter: Cripple Secondary passives: Blessed One, Smart Casting Anatomist is the best healer in game due to the passive Legendary Healer, which also then boost the amount of self-healing by Blessed One. Although Ban thinks Anatomist's Dark spells are sufficient in dealing damage and so he suggests Alchemyst as Yate's secondary class, I choose Wizard for the following reasons: Quite often, demonic creatures have Dark immunity and other creatures have immunity to other elements. So having Dark, Water, Fire, Earth and Thunder spells enable Yates to cast the most suitable spell, especially when the enemies are vulnerable to certain elements. Flexible casting :) Smart Casting is useful so that I don't need to worry much about the positioning of the enemies relative to my other characters when using Mass Healing and the area effect damage spells. As stated in previous post , there "are so many devastating Skill ba
Read more

Sudden lower body pain

-
About two weeks ago, my mum developed pain in her pelvic bone, much more on the right side, and squeezing pain in her legs, with occassional spike in pain. She was managing it with paracetamols, 2 tabs three times daily.  Since we didn't know any particular orthopedist in private hospitals (it was only recently that I remember Dr Prashant ), I targeted one at KPJ Penang Specialist Hospital since it's in mainland Penang (instead of on the island). I made appointment for my mum with Dr Joehaimey since he has the earliest suitable date. The moment she walked through his door, he immediately asked her whether the pain from her right side. We were both quite impressed. He was in turn impressed with mum's prepared list of medication that she presented to him on a piece of paper. The key information seems to be the surgery she had back in 2011 to insert titanium plate and screws in her lower spine. He guessed that there's accumalated wear and tear due to aging. So to confirm i
Read more