Level Up Math Tutoring and Acceleration

Who am I

I’m Miles McCoo, I hold a bachelors in Mathematics with Computer Science from MIT. I spent 22 years working for Intel programming CPU design software. I’m basically retired now and I’ve always enjoyed helping young students (and adults) learn more math and work math problems.

What do I do

Students learn math at difference paces. Math education as offered by public and private schools move at a pace appropriate to 60% of students.

• Some students have fallen behind and are basically left behind. They don’t have the background knowledge to understand current material. I’d guess 20%
• Some students are bored. They could move at 2 or 3 times the pace of normal curriculum. I’d guess 5-10% of students
• Some students are doing fine in their current class, but with some encouragement, they could do more. I’d guess another 10-20%

What is my experience

I hold a Math bachelors MIT. The freshman calculus classes that all MIT students must take are already quite difficult and fast paced. The upper level classes gave me an appreciation for how math works and the many ways it can be really cool.

I’ve spent many hours in public schools both in classrooms assisting teachers and in small breakout groups. I’ve taught groups ranging from 1-1 to 12 kids at a time. I’ve been involved in Junior Achievement and Minds Matter. From my time in classrooms, I’m familiar with what different course levels expect. I’m also familiar with the cool math they gloss over.

What’s my approach

First and foremost, I’m encouraging. Math is only hard if you don’t know how to do a particular problem. Many problems need to be explained in a bunch of different ways to find the one that sticks. If you’re struggling, it’s because there’s some piece of background you don’t know. Fill those holes and math becomes much more approachable.

My work with students mainly centers on solving problems. I start out by asking students to work a variety of, hopefully easy, problems. Do they know their times tables? Are they comfortable with fractions? Basic algebra?

If students have specific course material, we can work on that, but I often go on “side trips” with them. See below.

Many students just want a challenge. I can guide them through material more advanced than what their normal class gives.

Many students want to prepare for SAT testing.

Side trips

Very often, as I nudge a student trying to work a particular problem, I see that there’s precursor math concept they don’t know or that they forgot. Forging ahead is a recipe for frustration. Let’s take a side trip to get them to understand some underlying concepts. When we return to the target problem, things become easier or at least less difficult.

Thoughts on math education

I have a blog about math. Here are some of the latest entries

• Why do I tutor math?
• Times tables are the key
• Why math acceleration?

What do I charge?

I ask for $50/hour. Small groups up to 4 students are encouraged for the same fee. I’m in North Portland. You can come to me or I can come to you. Online works but not as well as in person. Outside N PDX area, I’d need to charge for travel time but I can waive that if meeting multiple sessions.

After the first session, if we’re not a match, I won’t charge.

If you can’t afford it, we can work something out. I’d kind of prefer to volunteer in schools but schools want to do it their way. It’s not just about the money for me.

Do you have meeting space?

A church for example? I’ll make you a good deal to help your members.