From:
Ann Novitske
Date:
Aug 18 18:42 UTC
Short link
Hi S-E neighbors -
I've posted a few times already, but have not yet formally introduced myself.
My name is Ann Novitske and I've been a S-E resident since May 1999. I live
just east of Roosevelt HS with Dan Cooke & our dachshund, Huck. Apart from
having a few minor issues with my life in S-E (grafitti, RHS trash), I think
our neighborhood is GREAT and I think the rest of the city is starting to
realize that, too.
My post today concerns math tutoring for MPS HS students. I taught math at
Washburn HS for 8 years and during that time learned just how much kids are
struggling with the topic these days. I think the last stat I saw regarding
Algebra I failure rates was 50% - and that's nationwide, not just MPS. Though
I am no longer teaching math for MPS (honestly, I burned out - but I lasted
about 3 times longer than most teachers these days do), I remain committed to
helping kids make peace with and succeed in mathematics.
To that end, in Fall 2006 I organized a group of friends & acquaintances who
are also "math professionals" (engineers, bankers, actuaries, techies, etc) to
volunteer a couple hours per week as math tutors at Hosmer Library in South
Mpls. The first two years have gone very well and we'll be starting our third
year of tutoring soon. With recent cuts to the MPL Homework Helper program as
well as word getting out about our service, we expect our services to be even
more in demand this year.
Anticipating that increase in demand (and hoping to grow our volunteer program,
too), I'm posting to see if any of my neighbors would be interested in tutoring
with us this school year? We currently are scheduled to be at Hosmer 6-8 pm on
Tue & Thu during the school year, but we're also open to adding
locations/days/times if we can field enough tutors. (Though we might someday
be open to expansion to other subjects as our growth/progress dictates, we're
currently targetting the math subject area because it's where my experience
lies & it's rather notorious for causing students grief.) If you are
interested in joining our math tutoring group, please reply to me via email or
call my cell at 612-501-9500.
Thanks!
- Ann