Blake .
Male, 35 years
Melbourne, Australia
Maths tutor
Bio
I Am A Full-time University Mathematics Tutor Holding A Master\'s And Honours Undergraduate Degree In Pure Mathematics. I Have Over 5 Years Of Tutoring Experience, Including 3 Year... Read more
I Am A Full-time University Mathematics Tutor Holding A Master\'s And Honours Undergraduate Degree In Pure Mathematics. I Have Over 5 Years Of Tutoring Experience, Including 3 Years Of Running Tutorials For Undergraduates At The University Of Melbourne. So Far I Have Tutored Over 15 Separate University Mathematics Subjects Ranging From First-year Undergraduate To Honours Level Subjects. I Am Deeply Passionate About Mathematics Education As Evidenced By My Numerous Talks And Interactive Classes I Have Given To Undergraduate Students And Even The General Public. I Learned The Programming Language Python To Create 3-D Animations That I Utilized As A Part Of These Talks To Help Visual Learners. Throughout My First Three Years At University, I Got A\'s In All Of My 12 Mathematics Subjects. However, I Found This To Be Very Difficult And Felt That I Had To Constantly Work Hard To Reach This Goal. This Is Due To The Fact That I Almost Failed High School Mathematics, And Subsequently Had A 5-year Gap Between High School And Higher Education. As Such, I Had To Relearn All Of High School Mathematics On My Own, Before Returning To University. Once At University I Always Felt Behind The Curve, And That I Had To Work Twice As Hard As Other Students. Whilst This Might Not Sound Like The Ideal Path For Becoming A Tutor, On The Contrary; I Feel It Has Put Me In A Great Position For Tutoring, Especially For Students That Find The Subject Naturally Difficult. Since I Have Approached My Learning From The Perspective Of A Struggling Student, Then I Am Readily Able To Recognize And Even Anticipate Where Issues Of Understanding And Learning Can Come From, And How Exactly To Overcome Them. I Am Currently Employed As A Mathematics Tutor At The University Of Melbourne For Undergraduate Courses. For The Past 4 Years I Have Tutored The Following University Subjects Privately: Calculus 1 Calculus 2 Calculus 3 Linear Algebra Complex Analysis (MTH328 Charles Stuart University) Differential Equations And Mechanics (MATH 314 ACU) Advanced Mathematics For Economics And Social Science (20136 Bocconi University, Italy) Engineering Mathematics 3B (MTH20014, Swinburne University) Number Theory And Cryptography (MATH308, ACU) Linear Algebra For Data Analysis (SIT292, Deakin University) Discrete Mathematics (RMIT) Mathematics For Economics Linear Algebra For Data Analysis (SIT292, Deakin University) Complex Analysis (MAST30021) Business Analytics For Decision Making (MGMT90239) Real Analysis (MAST20026) Complex Analysis (MAST30021) Geometry (MAST30024) I Have Also Volunteered As The Subject Coordinator For VCE Specialist Mathematics At The Summer School Organised By The University Of Melbourne Student Union In Australia (UMSU). I Have Also Given A 90-minute Talk To High School Students About University Mathematics Entitled \"How To Explore Higher Dimensions\" And Have Written For The Undergraduate Mathematics Magazine, Introducing Higher Maths To Interested Undergraduates. I Have Also Given A Public Talk/seminar Aimed At The General Public On \"How To Explore Higher Dimensions\". I Have Also Had Experience As Volunteer Mathematics And English Teacher In India For 4 Months Which Developed My Communication Skills Since Many Of The Students Had Little To No Knowledge Of These Subjects. Read less
Teaching methodology
Practically: I Am Available Via Email For Any Questions You Have Between Sessions. I Can Send You Lecture Notes Which I Have Found To Be Most Appropriate For A Given Topic, Or Hand... Read more
Practically: I Am Available Via Email For Any Questions You Have Between Sessions. I Can Send You Lecture Notes Which I Have Found To Be Most Appropriate For A Given Topic, Or Hand-selected Examples And Questions Based Off Of Your Individual Needs. Tutorial Structure: I Let You, The Student, Guide Me As To What Kind Of Approach You Would Prefer. For Example, We Can Cover Pure Theory With Some Examples, Or We Can Answer Exercise Problems, Or Past Exams Together. However, Central To All Of My Tutorials Is The Concept Of Engagement. If A Student Is Not Engaged With The Material Then They Will Not Learn. I Make Use Of Several Techniques To Keep Engagement Up. One Such Technique Is To Aim To Keep A 40:60 Ratio Of Student Speaking/writing To Tutor Instructing. Keeping The Student Interacting And Speaking Provides A Perfect Way To Do Two Things Simultaneously: 1) Checking The Student Understands The Material On The Spot, And 2) As The Student Interacts With The Material Then They Reinforce What We Are Covering To Help With Recall Afterwards. I Also Emphasise Mathematical Spoken Language, Since Writing And Speaking Involve Two Different Parts Of The Brain. Interacting With The Student Via Both Mediums Allows For The Student To Become A Lot More Comfortable With The Abstract Symbols, Both In Writing And Reading. Once The Student Understands How To Properly ‘talk’ Mathematics, Then Reading It On Their Own (sub-vocalisation) Becomes Possible, And Hence The Symbols Become Much Easier To Handle And Less Daunting. I Pride Myself On Being Able To Both Quickly Identify The Gaps In A Students Understanding, As Well As How To Effectively Communicate These Gaps To The Student In A Multitude Of Ways. For Example, One Can Explain A Concept Visually With Pictures Or Animation, Algebraically, By Analogy With The Real World, Purely Verbally Or Just In Terms Of Other Mathematics That One Already Knows. Usually, There Are At Most One Or Two Pieces Of Information That A Student Needs In Order To Understand A Concept In Mathematics. By Asking Light-hearted Questions Of The Student, I Am Able To Quickly Identify Those Missing Pieces Of Information That The Student Needs In Order To \'get It\'. This Skill Came To Me During My Own Degree Where It Took Me A Lot Of Work On My Own Before Identifying The Missing Pieces For Each Concept. Read less