Math made easy: A new outlet for help
Math teacher, Lisa Adams, will no longer be the only one teaching in her classroom. D22 was renovated on April 25 to host the new Math Center. Open everyday at lunch, the Math Center is a place where students having trouble with the coursework in their math class can go to receive help from their peers.
Anyone taking math – from an Algebra 1 to Math Analysis class – now has a new resource for assistance to improve their math abilities.
“It’s a great resource for students if they are struggling. Help is there waiting if the kid takes the motive to get assistance,” Adams said.
The idea of creating a student-tutor math location was discussed by the administration and the math department for the duration of the past school year. A few months before the creation of the center, the math department took a trip to Westlake High School to view how their Math Center functioned.
“The math department went to see if it was productive and if it would help our students. We saw what we liked and didn’t like and applied that to our own Math Center,” Adams said.
Kevin Yu, junior, looks over a math textbook as he assists Luke Smith, junior, with some homework problems at the new math center during lunch.
The Math Center provides stations for each math class where tutors are placed to help others. Tutors assist students seeking help by explaining fundamental concepts and guiding their understanding instead of solving the problem for them.
Kevin Chau, sophomore, has taken advantage of the new Math Center services multiple times. As a current math analysis student, he wanted a better grasp on the concepts discussed in class and was helped to achieve that goal by the peer tutors.
“Math Center has really helped me hone my math skills for further use,” Kevin Chau, sophomore, said.
The program was created to help not only the individual but the tutor too. Helping others in previously learned math topics allows the tutor to refresh their knowledge and strengthen their basic foundation while learning people skills.
“Math is one of my favorite subjects and I like helping people. Tutoring is awesome that way… It feels awesome to help people learn math,” Jordan Jomsky, junior and math analysis tutor, said.
Allen Luo, junior, watches intently, ready to answer questions, as sophomore Emily Flores completes her math homework.
