February 22nd, 2011
For older students the incentives are easier to see, better math skills lead to higher grades. For younger children the final incentives of productive studying are harder to see, which is why we sometimes need to provide an extra boost of encouraged learning with a small piece of candy for a correct answer. Getting students in the mood to learn, and to appreciate their education can be one of the hardest things to accomplish as a tutor.
When the students learn how useful math can be to them and how they can apply specific math skills to real-life situations, they work harder and perform better. Mathematics revolves our daily lives. Teaching kids about everyday uses of math helps them to better understand the real world around them. Some examples of everyday uses of math included: problem solving, budgeting money, time management, calculating tips and tax, memorizing important number data i.e. phone numbers and locker combinations, and estimating distances and weights. These real world skills have major benefits towards the academic success of an individual, and can lead to a greater success in careers that you might not expect to be math-intensive such as, agriculture, law, business, politics, psychology, and music.
Daily mental math exercises to help keep your brain active are a great way to stay on top of your mathematical game. Solving puzzles and exercises such as, suduku or homework problem sets, keeps your mind sharp and ready to tackle any challenge. Mathematics may seem to be an underrated subject, but it has lasting influences in our lives everyday. From the moment we wake up to check the clock, to the number of hours we work each day to make a living, we are constantly surrounded by numbers.
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Posted in 6-8, 9-12, Calculus, El Segundo, elementary school, Geometry, Hermosa Beach, K-5, Learning, Manhattan Beach, math, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Pre-Calculus, Redondo Beach, South Bay, Statistics, Summer Tutoring, Trigonometry, Tutors, Uncategorized |
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February 17th, 2011
One of the most gratifying things about being a tutor at the Study Hut is when students have an “a-ha!” moment. We’ve all had a few of these; when nothing seems to be making sense and then all of a sudden, everything clicks. It’s a great feeling and one I personally enjoy seeing in our hut students.
Mason is a student at Palos Verdes High School and doesn’t particularly enjoy writing essays. He came in one day with an assignment to write about someone who has influenced his life in a positive way. Mason had a lot of great stories about his football coach but couldn’t figure out how to organize all of this overwhelming information into a structured essay. Mason asked, “Why do I have to organize this? It takes away from the fun of writing my story.” When I told him that an essay is a way of convincing the reader of something you believe in, everything clicked. “Ohhh I can totally convince you.” Mason said with a big grin. After I told Mason to tell me why his coach motivates him, not only was Mason listing positive attributes about his coach, but he was also giving me descriptive reasons and examples that helped support his argument.
After he told me everything, we got it down on paper in an outline format. Mason expressed that outlining the essay actually wasn’t as hard as he originally thought. He also even thought it was cool that he was able to write an essay about something that was important in his life.
Whether it’s writing essays, studying for chemistry or working out A.P. calculus problems, students are bound to have many “a-ha!” moments while working with tutors at the Study Hut.
Tags: Palos Verdes Tutor, Palos Verdes tutoring, peninsula tutor, Peninsula tutoring, penninsula tutor, penninsula tutoring, PV tutor, PV tutoring, Redondo tutor, redondo writing tutor, south bay tutor, South Bay tutoring, writing teacher, writing tutoring
Posted in 6-8, 9-12, Calculus, Chemistry, Editors, elementary school, General, General Articles, high school, K-5, Learning, Manhattan Beach, math, middle school, Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Redondo Beach, South Bay, Tutor Tips, Tutors, Uncategorized, writing |
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February 14th, 2011
It’s that time again. SAT season! This can be a time of tremendous anxiety for many, but it doesn’t have to be. Here at the Study Hut we work to prepare students for conquering this test. We focus on vanquishing the SAT and getting our students excited about college. Our approach is multifaceted and familiarizes students with the exam. Often our students are most nervous about the math section of the SAT. The Hut provides students with comprehensive materials to dust off older material and reinforce newer concepts. The most important thing is that students are familiar with the structure of the test, especially with the math section. When they know what to expect, students approach the SAT with more confidence and are more successful. We review everything from common denominators to parabolas!
Study Hut tutors will work side-by-side students to get them ready for the next stage of their lives! We will help make this potentially nerve racking time into one of excitement. Many of our students see their scores jump after preparing with us. We have many Redondo High and Palos Verdes High school students in our group course, as well as taking advantage of our one-on-one services. No matter their preference, our approach minimizes the stress and makes SAT prep more manageable. College is just around the corner!
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Posted in 9-12, El Segundo, General, General Articles, Hermosa Beach, high school, Manhattan Beach, Poor Test grades, SAT, South Bay, South Torrance, Summer Tutoring, Test taking anxiety, Testing, Uncategorized |
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February 10th, 2011
What began as a modest, experimental finals-season gesture became one of the busiest and most auspicious events that the Study Hut has ever participated in. Early in January, the Hut got in touch with Mary Lou Cordaro, who works with the library at West High School. The Hut volunteered its services for any West students ambitious enough to sign up for extra tutoring on the Friday and Saturday (January 21 and 22) before exams. A few tutors from each of the Hut’s branches signed up to work at “stations” according to subject, which students could move among during the three hours per day that we would be there. We expected a slight crowd, an atmosphere perhaps even casual (or as casual as possible with finals looming ahead). But Mary Lou, one of the most enthusiastic educators we have ever had the privilege to work with, tirelessly promoted the event until the roster had racked up the names of over one hundred students eager for all the help they could get their hands on.
Suddenly, it was all hands on deck. Subject stations were set up throughout the library’s spacious first floor. Textbooks were handed out. The library doors opened like floodgates, and the place was teeming with students. All grades were represented, and for three hours each day the students moved among the tables and classrooms to garner whatever study tips they could. To those students who stayed long, paid attention, and were reluctant to leave even at the two-minute warning, tutors passed out vouchers for free hours of final exam tutoring. Thanks to the students, tutors, and of course, Mary Lou, those were two of the most fruitful days in Hut history. After it was over, many students redeemed their vouchers before their exams, and several of them have begun to stay on for regular help.
Before January 21, while we had been looking forward to the event, we had not expected such bewildering success. It was a great educational experience, not only for the students, but also for the tutors, many of whom had never worked with such large groups before. And it was fun, to boot! As the Hut plans for its future, we are looking forward to many more tutoring opportunities like it. Thank you to the Mary Lou, the tutors, and the students who made this first one so great!
Tags: bert m lynn, finals tutoring, history tutor, jefferson middle school, math tutor, Parras Middle School, parras tutoring, Science tutor, South Bay tutoring, South Bay tutors, st. james tutoring, Torrance tutoring, torrance tutors, Tutoring in the South Bay, tutoring in torrance, west high school, west high tutoring
Posted in 9-12, AP US History, Biology, Chemistry, foreign languages, General, high school, Redondo Beach, South Bay, South Torrance, study skills, Test taking anxiety, Testing, Tutors, Uncategorized |
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December 21st, 2010
The best thing about tutoring is: the opportunity to find success through anothers’. For every achievement, milestone, and triumph over academia, you are there beside your student. The successful tutor takes pride in helping his or her students achieve their academic goals, as their accomplishments reflect the quality and care of the teaching you’ve provided.
The position of a tutor requires patience, flexibility, and often a bit of ingenuity to relate
material that a student is struggling with. Sometimes the struggle results from poor in-class instruction; other times, it results from a wall being put up, as is the case with the mutually hated subjects (read: Chemistry, Geometry, and Trig). From this wall, springs a fountain of: “I hate this class,” “when am I ever going to use this?” and the banal “I don’t get it.” Ultimately, the goal of every successful tutor is to cap this negative-thought fountain and establish a strong base for breaking down the barriers of understanding. If a strong conceptual understanding is established, the student can go forth and apply
what he or she has learned both in and outside of class. The development of acute critical thinking skills in high school, junior high, even elementary school, is imperative to their successful triumph over the multitude of problems that college, and life, will throw at them. It is our job, as tutors, to cultivate these skills through theoretical and practical applications.
I work with many Chemistry honors and AP students, and although I can’t convince all of them that being able to synthesize the Sodium Laureth Sulfate in their shampoo bottle is really cool, I can convince them that Chemistry is totally conquerable. By relating a subject’s facts and ideas to everyday concepts (i.e. combustion reactions produce water: that’s why some cars drip water from their tailpipes) and being upfront about what is expected of them in their courses (sorry, but the polyatomic ions are just rote memorization), I’ve found success as a tutor.
Tags: college tutor, college tutoring, college tutors, Elementary school tutor, Elementary school tutoring, Elementary school tutors, High school tutor, high school tutoring, high school tutors
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August 19th, 2010
Lazy summer days are ending and long schools hours are just about to begin. Are you ready to go back and dive right in? If you’re one of the few and proud people who aren’t ready to go back to school just yet, the Study Hut has a few tips that can ease you back into the academic process of thinking. You’ll be pondering quadratic equations and Shakespeare’s love trysts in no time.
1) Read a book that will be read in class during the upcoming school year: It’s a good idea to get a jump start on the reading list you will be working on during this next year. Familiarize yourself with the main ideas of the book and even check out the main themes in Cliff’s Notes in between the high and low tides at the beach. This will help reduce the amount of confusion, put you a step ahead of your classmates, and help you participate in class. It’s also a great confidence booster when you know what you’re talking about.
2) Review some of your old papers from last year. See if you understand the corrections your teacher was trying to communicate in evil red ink and if you understand them better than when you first received them. Chances are you’ve spent the summer maturing and leaving your silly ways of thinking behind. Challenge yourself to think about what corrections you would make to your papers or tests to improve your skills and compare them to the mistakes you’ve made. If you can recognize your mistakes, you can grow from them.
3) Play some brainteaser games to get you back into school mode. In between setting the TiVo for TMZ and The Hills, check out the Discovery Channel for quiz shows like “Cash Cab” or see if you really are smarter than a 5th grader on Fox. Take a break from your coolness and have a “Cash Cab” contest among your friends while you’re waiting for the next Star Trek marathon.
4) Last but not least, schedule an appointment at your closest Study Hut for a crash course refresher and book your spots with your favorite tutor. Hurry, they’re going fast!
Tags: Back to school, back to school tutor, back to school tutoring, back to school tutors, school prep tutoring, school preparation tutoring, school preparation tutors, school's starting, Summer Tutoring
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July 13th, 2010
Dear Rob,
As much fun of a place that the Study Hut is, it is not really the place I want to
be during the summer. Although I realize the importance of maintaining some sort of
intelligence over the summer break, thinking is not appealing at all. After focusing
almost all of my brain capacity on school work for 9 months, I think 3 months is a fair
break from all learning whatsoever.
Yes, it is true that many students are enrolled in summer school and therefore
you might say it is necessary to continue tutoring throughout at least the duration of
the course. However, the way that summer school is set up, we cover around 2 to 3
chapters a day and may have a test that day. In that case, I would be coming to
tutoring to go over something I have already been tested on making it a waste of forty
dollars. Also, the content, due to the lack of allotted time is very watered down causing
the difficulty, at least for me, rather easy. If I do not need to be at tutoring I am simply
not only my time, but yours as well.
Adding to the lack of need for tutoring, there is also the fact that I simply do not
want to be there. I wake up at 6:30 am to go to summer school for 5 ½ hours then
have to go to football for 3 hours. By the time I would be available to come to tutoring,
my brain is absolutely fried and I would not be able to concentrate at all, which would
once again be a complete waste of time. I want to use the few free hours I have to
just relax and take my mind off anything that is making summer not seem like summer,
especially school work.
Sincerely,
Donovan Ward
Tags: school work, summer school, summer tutor, Summer Tutoring, summer tutors, writing
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June 10th, 2010
Mental Math
Nowadays, kids rely heavily upon their calculator for simple arithmetic. Most of us know our multiplication tables and how to multiple or divide some easier numbers. When the numbers start to get more complex thought, people get very frustrated and don’t even attempt to figure it out without a calculator. Here are some tips for doing mental math:
Say we wanted to multiply 12 by 23. Not too hard to do by hand or calculator, but when most are asked what the answer is without a calculator, their response is without thought, “I do not know”. You can always break these numbers down into problems that are much easier to do in your head:
First let’s look at something like 12×20. 20 is 2×10, so 12×20 is just 12x(2×10). Since 12×2 is 24 and 24×10 is 240, 12×20=240.
Now, let’s look at 12×23. The trick here is to rewrite one of the numbers as the sum of two numbers we can easily multiply, then use distributive property to make the one multiplication the sum of two easier multiplications. We can write 23 at 20+3. So, 12(23) = 12(20+3) which by the distributive property is 12(20) +12(3) = 240 +36 = 276. Since 12×20 and 12×3 are easy to do in the head, multiplying 12×23 can be just as easy if you can keep track of a few extra numbers.
Similarly 12 = 10+2, so (12)23= (10+2)23 = 10(23) +2(23) = 230+46 = 276. Either way, it isn’t as hard as most people think it is.
The next trick is to change the numbers we are multiplying. What is 15×18? Well, 18=2×9, so 15×18 = 15x(2×9) = (15×2)x9 = 30×9. Again, 30 = 3×10, so 30×9 is 10x(3×9) = 10×27 = 270. While this may seem like a lot of steps, once you get the hang of it, you can do this really quickly in your head.
These tricks work well for numbers under 100. When you get above 100, the tricks work the same, there are just more numbers to keep track of. Once you get the hang of keeping track of all the numbers, bigger numbers will become just as easy to multiply.
Try these in your head:
18×32 [18=20-2 so 18×32 = (20-2)x32 = 20(32)-2(32)= 640-64=576]
22×35 [22=2×11 so 22×35 = 11x2x35 = 11×70 = 770]
Tags: math tutor, Math tutoring, Mental math
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April 14th, 2010
After missing a few consecutive days of school due to illness, a local Manhattan Beach Middle School Student (who shall go unnamed) was inundated by a surge of school work. Having missed many critical days of instruction, his class left him behind and he didn’t have the study skills to catch up on his own. He failed his first quiz after returning and wrestled with hopelessness and despair.
He met his teacher after school, but still couldn’t quite understand the lessons completely. Lacking confidence in his understanding of the material, he turned the tv on…and yes, mom was well aware. Stressed and working a full schedule herself, his mom was unable to help him understand his math concepts and therefore she couldn’t help him catch up. Struggling to keep his head above water, the student was desperate to find help. After talking to some teachers and parents, Mom heard about the Study Hut… and not a moment too soon!
After only two hour-long visits, the student caught up on all his school work, and felt confident working with the material. After two more visits, he was able to get ahead of the curve by mastering the math concepts from the chapter that his class had yet to cover!
Working with the same tutor each session, the student was able to master his homework as well as develop concrete study skills that he will use for the rest of his student career. Today, his scores and self-esteem are on the rise his and new study skills have given him the confidence to study on his own.
After a month of working with a personal tutor at Study Hut, he’s come from teetering on the brink of failure to blossoming. His scores have risen steadily and now he is a leader in class.
…Study Hut to the Rescue!
Tags: Manhattan Beach Middle School, math help, math tutor, Math tutoring, math tutors, MBMS, middle school, middle school math help, middle school math tutoring, middle school math tutors, middle school struggling, middle school student, middle school tutoring, middle schoolers, overwhelmed student
Posted in 6-8, Algebra, General, General Articles, Hermosa Valley School, Manhattan Beach, math, middle school, Uncategorized |
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February 9th, 2010
One of the best methods of getting good grades on exams is to create a study guide. It is a great way to organize all the information in one subject matter into manageable chunks. Whether you are in middle school, high school, or even college, you will surely benefit from a study guide.
To create a study guide, follow these steps:
1. Gather all your study materials. This should include lecture notes, homework, handouts, previous exams, books and other resources on the topic.
2. Organize the materials into manageable groups. Group by type of materials. Put your notes together in one pile, homework in another pile, handouts in another pile, etc. Arrange all notes, homework, handouts, exams, others according to the order they were taught in class or to the date the topics/events occurred in history.
3. Assign colored tabs to the materials. Depending on how you organized your materials, you can use color coded sticky notes or tabs to make it easier for you to look for a specific material. For example, yellow tabs will be for notes, red for homework, blue for exams, and so on.
4. Write your study guide. Make a general outline of the subject on a piece of paper or in MS Word. From each broad topic & using your lecture notes, make a list of the important points. You should only have the key points to serve as a guide for you to remember the topic.
You can make your study notes guide before a major test. Better yet, begin the guide as soon as you study reading, math, biology or any other school subjects. Lay the foundations at the start of the term and keep on building on the guide. This way, you can have more time for other study activities. Ask your teacher if he has his own study teaching guide that can be shared with the class.
With a well prepared study guide, there’s no reason for you not to ace your test! 🙂
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