Confidence in Math Leads to Confidence in School
I feel best about having helped others believe in themselves.
–Bud Sherman
One of the most rewarding aspect of being a Math tutor is giving kids confidence in Math. Suddenly they realize you don’t need to be a genius in Math, they just need to understand the stuff. Do you know what a huge lesson that is for life?
Before I started Mathnasium, I worked at an amazing Talent Development company called Novations in Brighton, MA. One of their central themes is that there are two kinds of people in the workforce (and in life, really).
Those who believe in the fixed mindset, and those who believe in the growth mindset. People with fixed mindset believe that their qualities are carved in stone. If I find Math difficult, I’m just not wired for Math, it’s just not me. The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. This belief is what drives my passion to work with kids in their math development: although children walk into the center with varying degrees of initial talent or aptitude for solving algebra problems or solving trigonometry theorems, everyone can change and grow through application and experience.
Do I believe that any child can reach any level of brilliance in the mathematical spectrum? No, but I believe that a child’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what a child can accomplish with the right training, encouragement and hard work. That’s true for Math, that’s true for Life.
