Little miracle

At tutoring, I got a new student who had trouble with her old tutor. She has trouble staying focused and doing math work. She said her old tutor "talked to her like a baby." I realized that she didn't like her because she didn't feel successful or smart.

I taught her how to check her own subtraction problems by adding back the difference. I saw her eyes light up when she understood this little "trick." Suddenly, subtracting three-digit numbers wasn't as scary as it once was and, Sierra, who usually has trouble staying focused, plowed through her worksheet.

It wasn't that I was that excited to watch little Sierra learn a new skill, or understand that her math grade will improve with this new practice. It even reached far beyond Sierra comprehending the concept of "taking away from a whole." The reason why this was so exciting, was because I could see little Sierra's confidence improve ten-fold. For a girl who chronically gets the answer wrong - it must be a little miracle to know that you never have to get subtraction wrong again.

I was so glad I got to see it happen.