Matt

I am a retired professor of mathematics and statistics who has tutored all levels of math for over 20 years and supervised a college math tutoring center. I have 2 Masters degrees (MS in math from Virginia Tech & MS in statistics from Ball State University). I tutor all levels of high school and most levels of college mathematics and statistics.

Tutoring Style

I'm less of a teacher and more a “math coach.” Since being a good coach requires knowing your players, I first establish a clear baseline of what you know and try to understand your thought process by watching you work through a problem while verbalizing your thinking. Then I craft an explanation tailor-made to your content knowledge, strengths, and modalities best suited for you. Finally, I use guided practice to ensure you understand the process and can actually solve problems. This approach allows us to drill down and diagnose exactly which skills or concepts to reinforce.

Success Story

With a lot of students who are having difficulties in math, the standard textbook explanations don't work and that's where the fun of tutoring begins because you have to be creative in trying to find new ways to explain concepts. Just recently, for example, I was tutoring a student, Anna, in college algebra, and she struggled to remember the correct order of operations when solving an algebraic equation. The standard “textbook” explanations weren’t helping, so I tried a new approach: I compared solving for x to a chess game, where x is the king, and you have to “clear out” the pieces around it. You naturally start with the pieces farthest from the king (which are always quantities being added or subtracted) and worked our way inward (multiplication and division). Suddenly, the concept clicked for her, she gained confidence, and, she was very successful in algebra after getting over that one hurdle.

Hobbies & Interests

I run an educational non-profit to improve statistical literacy for disadvantaged children, have fun doing recreational math and occasionally research (I still publish work I do in education), tinker with my Mazda Miata, build things (I just finished building a deck and porch with a friend), play with my 2 year old English Bulldog, Jimmy Dean, relax at the beach (I live in Florida), work on a statistics textbook I am finishing up (with my graduate school mentor), and spend time with my family.