the math tutor

math was the bane of my high school existance (well, one of them). i always had a rocky school career. i had been skipped ahead a grade early on, but as my family started going through crisis, i discovered that i could have some control over at least one situaion; my work. i think it started quietly, my refusal to get my work in but i know for sure that by my second year of third grade ( my step-sister and i were going to be in the same grade at the public school we wanted to switch over to so as to get away from the misery of hathaway brown, an annoying, wealthy all-girls school. the public school didnt like siblings to be in the same class, and held me back due to "emotional immaturity" making me repeat third, which led to increased boredom) by that year, i was either sitting in front of my mother to do the homework then telling the teachers i hadnt completed it, or i was intentionally doing the wrong assignment to hand in. anyhow, my school career was strange and somewhat tragic, but then at wiley middle school, i finally pulled it all together, and was starting at heights high excited to succeed

only one of my classes was freshman AP geometry with ms. pendley, who, as my friend jason would say, should have been teaching potato peeling 101 in boise. she was a terrible teacher, and by the end of the first quarter i knew i would not be able to pass her proof based class (i went to the guidance counselor and she told me to stick it out to, which was a huge mistake), as my answers were always right, but i was failing due to the absolute wrongness of my proofs.... i dropped out with only a tenth grade education and immediatly got my ged, but it was very destructive to me as a person, that class.

so then, here i am, studying for me gre, not getting anywhere close to passing the math section, and in sets the anxiety, so i find a math tutor, a professional, an ex employee of case. we sit down together, she has me do some practice problems, and then says to me "youre great at math! what are you talking about? and your ability to understand statistics is incredible!"

over the next few weeks we met, and she pointed out a million things in the work i did on her white-erase board....i would get the right answer and she would say "your answers are absolutely true statements, you are one of the more creative problem solvers i have worked with! i want to make sure that you recognize other ways though, in case the test question only gives you steps and not the solution", which made alot of sense to me, and did not punish me for doing things my way...she also asked if i believed in esp...which i didnt know how to answer, but i did allow her to use the word intuitive to describe me

thank you lizann, what a world of difference and healing you created with me

Song of the day: learning to fly- tom petty