Geometry
Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:09:08 pm

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So when bad things happen you restructure and move on.

I got a job tutoring. I charge $40/hr but the company that finds me the jobs takes a percentage - 40%, leaving me making $26/hr. Still not terrible. But it's amazing that people pay 40/hr for a tutor. Of course, looking on Craigslist, tutoring doesn't pay even half as much and they want 5+ years of experience and tutoring references and a background check. Most wanted to pay 10-20 dollars an hour - that's kind of laughable.

I figure once I get a few clients who will give me some good references, I will up my price. It will remain the same for the original clients but will be upped for anyone new. Today I tutored a girl in geometry for 2.5 hours (the mother pays 100 bucks but I only make 60). Her house was huge and beautiful and they have a live-in maid. Everything was so nice with expensive furniture/electronics/dogs/carpets/art. The girl seemed to like me but I don't get why they always expect miracles. She is failing geometry and her midterm is Thursday. I had my first session with her today. I can't teach her a whole semester's worth of material by Thursday, especially when she has other subjects to study for. She had two other tutors but they were male and she didn't like them. Her other tutor had made her great notes going through each question of her review packet. I thought I'd be walking into a situation where the girl would know the basics and I would just explain difficult concepts. I don't remember basic definitions - like complement and supplement angles. I know sort of what they mean but the exact definitions elude me. So I spent a lot of time looking stuff up and reading the definitions and making the girl put it into her own words on a formula/definitions sheet. I explained to her the importance of taking a break every 45 minutes or so because the attention span is only so long and drudging through because you don't want to take a break for 2 hours won't help you. But you have to keep strict on how long your breaks are - don't let 15 minute breaks turn into two hour breaks. I also explained to her about when you come across a difficult question on the test, think about the elephant of the question - what concept are they trying to test? Is it the Angle-Side-Angle theorem? If you think about the question that way, maybe it will lead you to the answer. Sort of like thinking about the answer and then applying it to the question. I let her talk to me about why she didn't like her other tutors (applied them doctor skillz of empathetic listening). I kept "pimping" her on formulas and definitions. I made her actively study instead of listening to me talk. I made her write out her answers. It's so easy/tempting to ask "do you understand" and let her say "yes" and move on. I also can't believe geometry is so easy - it wasn't that easy when I was learning it, heh. I guess after calculus all other math is easy.

I don't know if her mom was that happy with me staying for 2.5 hours because she called around 11:45 and was shocked that I was still there. But I made a plan with her to go through half of her packet today, half of her packet on Monday, and then to review the packet again on Wednesday. I didn't realize I had stayed that long, actually. I was actually afraid I wouldn't have enough to talk to her about it for an hour. I don't know if after midterms she will want me to tutor her. She had no notes and *claimed* she was never given homework.

I was called by another lady who wants a tutor for her daughter who is failing biology. She was annoying, she wanted me to lower my price and then she said she had other tutors offering. I looked on the website, I have one of the lowest rates of the other tutors. I doubt she will get another for cheaper. I'm not going cheaper because it's 18 miles away. And again, her daughter is failing and has to pass the midterm which is Tuesday. I don't know what they are thinking - I'm not Jesus, I can't make a miracle happen.