One thing I’ve noticed is that my mental health goes in and out, but math is probably the most stable of things in my mind. I don’t think it makes any difference in my teaching.
Sometimes the students have special requests. One student of mine wants to not be a burden and only learn from watching others. She also has connectivity issues. I choose to respect that wish.
Students do not want to be belittled. That was one problem that caused me to get therapy. If you show the student that you know how to do the problem, that doesn’t help them solve the problem or feel any better. They already know you can solve the problem.
Students do not want to be patronized either. I have found that when the question is too simple, they often don’t want to answer. This just tells them that I’m thinking they’re stupid, which isn’t my intent or the truth.
Timing is important.
If you spend a lot of time on something and still fail to teach it, that’s a problem. You need to make sure you have prepared each problem step by step and that you can elaborate as much as needed. Like I said there is always more you can elaborate on. You should have enough time before teaching to ensure you will be able to teach properly.
If you go too fast, they don’t learn as much and you find yourself just going over the same material again.
I have found that it is very difficult to go too slow. Give the students time to work on the problems. Since you can see the students, you know when they’ve stopped working on it. Then you can present the solution step by step.
Another thing I’ve learned at Nomen Global is to be prepared. Students can ask you anything at any time.
Speaking of preparedness, I prefer to create lecture notes on every block. Then I send them to them. They can study the lecture notes and see what to do.
Another big thing is to think like you were them. When I do chess tactics for my own mental exercise, it takes me a while to do the problems.
The students take a while to do problems and some never get them. That is OK; it is just like me on chess.com. All that matters is that they’re improving as fast as they can.
Thinking of bottlenecks tells you exactly where to go. Just like how chess strategy gets divided up into categories, there is always one specific category to work on at a time. Sometimes they can do multiple categories in one problem; sometimes they get stuck on one part or even one part after another. That is what you are there for.
Another thing is when you get a new student, learn a thing or two from them and about them. It will help you many times over in saving time and getting them where you want them.