Tara’s Tutoring
Math assignments can be confusing and cause anxiety for many students. Tara, a local single mother, recognized the need for one-on-one math help in the area and began offering math tutoring services, both in person and virtually, about 5 years ago. She has had the pleasure of helping students find success in Elementary Math, Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Calculus classes. She has also helped many students prepare for exams such as PSSA’s, Algebra Keystone, SAT, or ACT.
Tara has three main goals when working with a student. The first, and arguably the most important, is building a relationship with the student. Tara has a friendly rapport with her students and always strives to make them feel comfortable during their sessions. Next comes the meat of the session, which is making sense of the math content. Tara is able to explain math concepts in a way that makes the problems seem less intimidating for students. This often includes creating “steps” and using helpful “tricks” to get through each type of problem. Her third goal is simply to help her students find an increased level of confidence in their math work and overall problem solving abilities. Many of her students have a fond relationship with her and feel that their confidence and math solving skills increase after just a few sessions with Tara.
One of her favorite parts about working with math students is hearing their success stories. One student in particular spent years feeling like math was impossible for her. She didn’t think that she would ever be able to “do” the math that she needed in order to graduate high school, take the SATs, or go to college. However, after a year and a half of working with Tara, she was able to take the SAT with confidence and we are very proud to report that she will be attending community college in the fall to begin her journey into the field of Nursing! Another student was on the verge of failing his senior math course which would mean that he wouldn’t be able to graduate high school that year. The student had all but given up on the Geometry course, when his parents found Tara. She was able to help explain the topics to him and worked through many assignments with him over the next few months and he was able to pass his final exam and graduate on time!
Many parents can’t afford the hourly fee and so for the third year now, the Silence of Mary Home has a program to assist these parents. That expense has been taken from our General Fund, but we want to have a separate Fund to retain and even expand this program to have a team of tutors available. Math competence is important for school as well as many, many professional and technical fields, and an expert tutor may make the difference a young person needs to pursue their dream for a lifetime of productive success.