Go on.... Type 'the world's best maths program' into google and you'll be bombarded with 106 million hits. They're all filled with phrases like 'the world's best practice,' 'the secret,' or 'we've found the one thing that works.'
It's confusing... and not just for parents but for educators also!
.At Synergy Tutoring students come across our path with all sorts of backgrounds in mathematics. Some need extension, some support and some just don't know. But in 17 years of teaching and 10 years of tutoring I've never had a parent ask if we have the world's best maths program. The question is always the same. Can you help my child?
Students ask the same question, never in the same way, but always the same question. Sometimes they ask it by refusing to engage. Sometimes it comes by rocking in the corner, sometimes they ask it directly. Here's what we've learnt though. Every child , every child, wants to succeed, even if they don't realise it's possible.
And there's something about the moment that 'it' happens that's magical. What is 'it?' It's when a child smiles in the middle of a task that last week caused significant stress. It's when a child who struggled to focus for any longer than 5 minutes reaches the end of a fifty minute session and begs their parent to stay. That 'it' is what we live for.
So where do we fit in those 106 million websites? What's our approach? The same as it's always been. We start with relationship, give kids permission to fail, grow their confidence and keep it as hands on as possible.
Matt Yost
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