My Experience with Math Tutoring at GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago

By: Anna Parker, GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago Math Tutor

I have had the pleasure of tutoring Michelle in math for just over one year now. I am so thankful for this opportunity, as it has been such a fulfilling and rewarding learning opportunity. I feel that Michelle has taught me more about life and perspective than I could possibly teach her about math!

Michelle and I meet once a week for one hour to practice math skills and to apply them to real-life situations. We begin the sessions by talking about our weeks and if I am lucky, I get to see the beautiful art projects that Michelle has been working on that week. We then move into warm-up math activities which usually consist of addition and/or subtraction problems related to her interests (which happen to be Power Rangers and Big Time Rush). We progress through various math skills following the “Purposeful Progressions” provided by GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago. We conclude sessions by relating the skills to real life scenarios. For example, we have done many online shopping activities, have created party playlists, and have created weekly calendars and planners. As an occupational therapy doctorate student, this is where I get to put my skillset to use of relating math topics to real-life scenarios that would increase an individual’s level of independence. My goal is to help equip Michelle with real life skills to engage in activities that are important to her such as shopping, dancing with friends, and cooking.

Michelle has made incredible progress throughout our time together. She has gained independence in many math skills, has grown in confidence, and most importantly our friendship has grown. Michelle and I share many laughs throughout our sessions and occasionally take dance breaks when needed. We finally got to meet in person after meeting virtually over Zoom for close to a year. We got to hit the dance floor together at the Dance-A-Thon in December. I am looking forward to continuing to tutor Michelle and seeing the growth and progress that she continues to make!