{"id":27295,"date":"2016-02-20T15:49:42","date_gmt":"2016-02-20T20:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/?p=27295"},"modified":"2016-02-20T15:49:42","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T20:49:42","slug":"benefits-tutoring-extra-income","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/mathgradblog\/2016\/02\/20\/benefits-tutoring-extra-income\/","title":{"rendered":"The Benefits of Tutoring: More Than Extra Income"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Classroom\"<\/a>

Tutoring can benefit the teacher as much as the student with valuable experience outside the classroom. Photo by Alexi Hoeft, used with permission.<\/p><\/div>\n

A guest post from\u00a0Natalie Coston<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Every Monday morning, I start my week sitting at my desk and waiting for the familiar voice that\u00a0I have come to know so well over the years. My tutoring student walks in and greets me with a huge and\u00a0cheery \u201cGood morning!\u201d I respond in turn and we get to work, pulling apart and making sense of the\u00a0current topic that is giving her trouble. And every now and then during a tutoring session, I get a sense\u00a0of overwhelming satisfaction and gratification. My name is Natalie and I am currently a fourth year graduate\u00a0student in the Math Department at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Although I have been tutoring\u00a0for a long time, since I have started graduate school my tutoring has become so much more valuable to\u00a0me than the extra income it generates. I think private tutoring has great benefits and I highly\u00a0recommend it.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For me, private tutoring provides an opportunity to connect with students in a way I don\u2019t in the\u00a0classroom. In tutoring a student, I get to know their strengths and weaknesses as well as who they are\u00a0as a person. I try to encourage the idea that they are allowed to make mistakes with me; I am not\u00a0grading them, only trying to help them learn. This mentality creates an environment very different from\u00a0that of a classroom, and it is one I enjoy very much. Through tutoring, I get to help students make\u00a0connections, and I get to see their eyes and brains light up when some topic finally falls into place.<\/p>\n

When I tutor I also get to revisit old material. I would say I wasn\u2019t truly comfortable with Green\u2019s\u00a0Theorem, flux integrals, or parameterizing a surface until I tutored multivariate calculus. In addition,\u00a0every time I tutor a class I get a little something new out of it. Whether it\u2019s viewing a technique in a new\u00a0light after seeing something I thought I didn\u2019t understand in that differential geometry class last year or\u00a0finding a new way of explaining a topic, I can feel my knowledge base expanding every time I tutor a subject.\u00a0It also helps me see that I am getting smarter and making progress. That little reminder that I do know\u00a0something can really be helpful when I am struggling with my own research.<\/p>\n

Getting paid to do something I spend my time doing anyway (math) isn\u2019t too bad either.\u00a0Graduate students typically don\u2019t make huge amounts of money, so tutoring from time to time for all\u00a0that extra coffee I buy can really help alleviate financial pressure. As a graduate student, my time is valuable\u00a0to me, but getting paid to talk to someone about math feels well worth my time.<\/p>\n

That being said, my favorite part of tutoring by far is sharing my knowledge with someone who\u00a0wants to learn. Being able to pass my knowledge onto someone is an incredible feeling. Over the past three\u00a0years, I have had the privilege of tutoring one student in particular in many different classes. I have seen\u00a0her grow academically, watched her succeed and fail, and watched her keep reaching for more\u00a0knowledge through it all. To know that I had the privilege of helping her foster her love of math and of\u00a0learning is more valuable than the money made.<\/p>\n

So often in graduate school, it is easy to forget that we are learning, that we are making\u00a0progress, or to forget why we like math in the first place. For me, tutoring is a way to remind myself why\u00a0I am here and why I love math. And hey, if I make a little extra spending money, that doesn\u2019t hurt either.<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A guest post from\u00a0Natalie Coston: Every Monday morning, I start my week sitting at my desk and waiting for the familiar voice that\u00a0I have come to know so well over the years. My tutoring student walks in and greets me … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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