Why do I keep doing what I do?

I have been reading through a lot of blogs lately and one that I ran across was one called:

Why I love teaching and tutoring…. This article got me to thinking about the job that I do, what got me started, and what keeps me going. Here are a few thoughts about my motivation as a tutor that I would like to share with you.

The blog post mentioned developing relationships. I have an opportunity to develop a relationship with someone that results in building their confidence. I build up their trust, help them find something inside to overcome a challenge that they are facing. Frequently, I work with students that have a long history of people tearing them down and breaking them. I have an opportunity to build them up. I have the chance to help them: to stay by their side and to see them through to success. I was once told that the greatest revenge you can have on your enemies (those that would want to hurt you) is your success. For me, success comes in part from seeing others succeed. In fact, some have come back to me and told me how they are now able to help others because they got past their struggle. They are now “paying it forward.” What a blessing it is to me to know that is happening.

When it comes down to it, I want to give people a chance--one that they may not otherwise get. There were quite a few educators that I encountered as I was going through school that didn’t do a very good job of encouraging. There a few that I can name that were verbally abusive, and quite frankly that makes them bullies. (On that note I would like to do a blog post about bullying soon in response to Memoirs of a Bullied Kid) Most of those teachers would not give many of the students that I see a chance. They would have written them off. How do I know this? I and many of my classmates were written off by them, in favor of the students that fit the mold, or were little challenge to teach. I admit I have my moments of weakness when I want to give up, and want to take the easy route out. But my experiences drive me harder and tell me “You can’t give up on them.”

So this drive pushes me: I love problem solving. I guess that’s why I ended up tutoring math. But tutoring is also a type of problem solving. How can I take what I know, mix it with what the student knows, in a limited time, through the least confusing, most fitting way for that student’s experience, and bring them to that “Ah! Now I get it!” Most days I go home exhausted, but it is usually that good kind of tired. I love the challenge.

There are countless other motives I am sure, and quite frankly do we really know all our motives for doing most of what we do? Those three intertwined reasons seem to stand out the most to me. When I first work with a new tutor, I tell them that at minimum 60% of our job is being like a counselor. Near the end of a semester, when things get rough, it comes closer to 90%. So mixing the challenge of reaching to others struggling through a tough subject, math, and finding insights about life is what makes me:



The Existential Mathmagician