Category: Tips

In a previous post I described the approach I take when I’m introducing even and odd functions to my class. I thought I’d follow up with a post exploring the similarities and differences between teaching and tutoring. Certainly, there will be times in a tutor’s life that he or she will be teaching a topic to a student. For example, if a student is catching up after having missed a lecture. Much of the time, however, the tutor will not be teaching in this way.

Who leads?

One clear way of drawing a distinction between teaching and tutoring is by asking the question, “Who’s leading the discussion?” There’s not always a hard and fast answer, for teaching or for tutoring, but in broad strokes one might say:

• The teacher leads the discussion with the students.
• The student leads the discussion with the tutor. Continue reading

Students sometimes visit the ALC looking for help with WeBWorK problems, but what is WeBWorK?

WeBWorK is an online homework system that many math instructors at CityTech use in their classes. (Indeed, it’s used by many instructors and many colleges.) Some instructors use WeBWorK as a complement to traditional paper homework and others use it in place of traditional paper homework. Some instructors use WeBWorK to provide students with review exercises for practice, and some even use it for in-class quizzes and tests!

The way that WeBWorK works, roughly, is as follows: Continue reading

One of the items discussed at last November’s meeting was the special “technical” sections of MAT 1275 that are sometimes offered. These sections are designed to cover the same mathematics material that is covered in the regular sections of MAT 1257, but the presentation is much more motivated by real-world technical problems. While many math tutors in the ALC have a technical background, not all do. Even those who do might find that some of the applications used in these sections are unfamiliar. While tutors need not be world experts on all the specific applications, they are expected to understand them well enough to address how the mathematics is used in such realms when students come for help.

Students themselves may be enrolled in one of these sections without realizing that it’s special. When a student comes to the ALC for help with MAT 1275, the tutor should establish up front whether that student is enrolled in a standard section or a technical one.

We may discuss some of these applications at future meetings. For now, please consult the course outline linked below. The textbook is called Math for Electricity and Electronics and is written by Professor Kramer, who is a faculty member in the Math Department at CityTech. Professor Kramer taught one of these technical sections in Fall 2015 and Professor Smith is teaching one in Spring 2016.

MAT1275 Technical Section Course Outline