Mikayla Christensen

Date of tutoring session: 1/31/18

Student Age & Grade: Age 11, 6th Grade

1. What topic(s) did you cover in your tutoring session?

During this tutoring session I helped this student study for her upcoming test. The test was
going to be on exponents. We covered order of operations when an equation had an exponent.
We also covered word problems that would be solved with an exponent.

2. Did you use any problem solving strategies or tools from this class? If so, describe how
this went. If not, what techniques did you use to help your student?

For this session I used the polya steps to help this student work through solving the word
problems. First I told her that we need to understand our problem and what was being asked. I
had her rewrite the problem in her own words. I also had her find and make a list of what she
knew and what she needs to know. I then asked her to figure out a plan, I provided her with a
few different problem solving strategies and she ended up choosing to draw a picture. The
problem had to do with area of two rectangles, so she drew that out. She also labeled the things
she knew on the picture she drew. After that it was easy for her to figure out the equation she
needed to use to solve the problem.

3. Describe any challenges you faced in the session. (What was the student’s attitude about
math? Did you notice any knowledge gaps? Was the lesson/homework too easy or too hard for
the student’s skill level? etc.)

This student was really easy to work with, the only problem that I faced was that she was really
hesitant when it comes to trying to solve the problems herself. It was like she was scared to fail.
I kept reassuring her that failing was just apart of learning and getting better. The homework
didn’t seem like it was too difficult, this student just seemed to need help in a few areas.

4. Describe any triumphs you had in the session?

One of the triumphs I had was the student used the poly strategies on the next few word
problems she needed to complete. She told me that using these steps really helped her with
word problems, which were a struggle for her. She finished these word problems without
needing any help from me. That made me feel really good, that I was able to help a student
overcome something that she was struggling with.

5. What are your take-a-ways from the session? (Did you learn anything about teaching from
it? What would you do differently or the same to help your students?)
I learned that even if a student seems like the understand the most of the topic, doesn’t mean
that they still don’t need a little extra help. All students can benefit from a little extra help,
whether that be from the teacher or even from other students.

6. Other thoughts? (How comfortable were you with the topics? Did you face challenges with
the student’s teacher’s instruction style/rules? Can you relate to your student’s
struggles/triumphs?)

I was pretty comfortable with the topics, and once I started looking at the problems more of the
concept came back to me. I was confident that I could help this student understand the
problems. I really liked the teacher’s instructions and style because she was really big on “use
whatever makes sense to you.” She didn’t force her students to think the way she thinks, she let
them figure out what works best for them.