Monday, November 1, 2021

new tricks

 On Monday afternoons I tutor a fifth grader at South Wayne Elementary School.  Last year I tutored the same boy but we spent the whole year studying together by Zoom.  Now that I've met him in person he's taller and thinner than I expected.  I suspect he had a growth spurt this summer.  He spent most of our first session, last week, telling me about the roller coasters he rode at Cedar Point this summer.  But this week we really got to work.  He's very serious about strengthening his math skills and worked carefully through a page his teacher had given him.  It mostly dealt with fractions, but also included some multiplication and division.  One problem involved what we used to call long multiplication (in the olden days).  I watched him work the problem and he did it all wrong, in other words not the way I was taught, but surprise, surprise, he got the right answer.  His way looked more complicated to me.  When I showed him my way he said yes, they had been taught both ways last year but his way was easier.  Maybe, maybe not.  But if it works for him who am I to argue?  Isn't it fun when the teacher gets taught?

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