Reflection 3
Reflection 3
Kirsten Dent
Date of tutoring session: 2/28/2019 Student Age & Grade: 8th Grade, 13 years old
Answer all in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1. What topic(s) did you cover in your tutoring session?
The topic I worked on with the student was finding the slope and y-intercepts of different
equations. The assignment that I helped the student with wanted the students to find the
equation using y=mx+b, create a table, graph the equation, and then come up with a story
problem. It was a really fun and interactive worksheet but it was a little challenging for the
student I was working with.
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?
The worksheet she was assigned had many of the different problem-solving strategies on it.
They had to graph, use a table, and solve for variables. All of these problem-solving strategies
are very important for her to understand. Her teacher is just introducing her class to the
equation y=mx+b. They have done many activities using this equation but this assignment is
pulling it all together to help them know how to use y=mx+b in many different ways. As we
were working on her assignment, I would give her helpful hints about how everything should be
set up. I allowed her time to figure out the section, such as filling out the table, on her own first
then we would go through and talk about it to see if she fully understands how to do that part.
It’s very important with these kinds of assignments to teach them to check their work before
they move on because if they mess up in the beginning then the whole assignment is wrong.
3. Describe any challenges you faced in the session. (What was your 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.)
There were times where I would tell the student that they didn’t do a step correctly and they
would respond with, “no, that’s how my teacher told us to do it”. I would look at it and double
check to make sure I wasn’t making a mistake then I would try to explain it to the student. I had
to come up with many different equations off the top of my head to show them how the
equation was supposed to be solved. This happened a few times throughout my tutoring
session. Sometimes the student realized their mistake and changed it and other times the
student would say that they were just going to check with their teacher later. I realized during
this session that I need to try to understand the students more. It is totally frustrating when you
have two people telling the student different things, I understand why she wanted her teacher
to check her work. So, I learned that it is totally fine if the student decides to check with the
teacher.
Tutoring Reflection