August 27, 2023
Even in Ancient Times, Women Were Breaking Barriers
How the first recorded female mathematician Hypatia paved way for women in math and philosophy
The Great Alexandria
Many of us have been educated on humankind’s earliest civilizations. One of the more infamous yet mysterious communities we have collected knowledge on was Alexandria. It was a port city located in present-day northern Egypt, and one of the greatest Mediterranean cities to exist in our recorded history.
It was founded in approximately 331 BC by Alexander the Great, a fierce Macedonian ruler and military genius. Alexander left to pursue a takeover of nearby Persia, so Alexandria was left to be ruled by the Ptolemaic Dynasty for nearly three centuries; a famous ruler within this dynasty includes queen Cleopatra VII. Alexandria was known as the greatest city to ever exist and would later become a major hotspot for early Christianity, a center for religious turmoil from clashes between faiths.
A highly regarded figure that emerged from this time was true icon Hypatia.
Who was Hypatia?
Hypatia (355-415 AD) was one of the first well known feminine figures in philosophy, astronomy, and math.
“First” is a loosely applicable term in this discussion since the TRUE first female mathematician was Pandrosion, but Hypatia was the first to be well recorded and depict historical accuracy about one of the world’s most prolific civilizations.
She lived during the time of ancient Alexandria, but existed amidst an incredibly disorderly and violent era in the empire’s existence. Due to the turbulent chain of events that occurred during and after her time, it greatly accentuates Hypatia’s success to defy traditional odds inflicted upon Alexandrian women.
She was absolutely set up for greatness; her father was a well known mathematician, Theon of Alexandria (335-405 AD). It was most likely that she was taught and instructed by her father, which shows through the similarities in their separate works. Theon was most known for aiding in the preservation of Euclid’s Elements, a thirteen book collection encapsulating mathematical theories and proofs. Much of his work molded her own, as she took great effort in preserving the historical intellect of Greek heritage, especially in the fields of math and philosophy.
A well-loved Pagan, Hypatia was quite tolerant towards those of Christian faith.This is incredibly important being that she existed in a time where the Christians, Jews, and Pagans were all experiencing conflict with one another. Her well-composed demeanor helped establish a reputable relationship with the elite upper class; this dynamic even bled into responsibilities she held later in her life.
Hypatia’s realms of expertise were heavily male dominant fields of intellect, work, and discourse. Therefore, a woman entering that space with confident and productive contributions challenged the conventionality of Alexandria’s gender roles and dynamics.
What did she DO exactly?
Hypatia was credited with writing commentaries for various texts. She constructed a commentary focusing on Diophantus’ Arithmetica. This is a partially survived thirteen volume text harping on the development of number theory through equations. Her other prominent commentary revolved around Apollonius of Perga’s Conics. Conics is a dissertation about conic sections and their influence on modern and ancient analytical geometry.
Her commentaries greatly exemplified her high level of intelligence and understanding of math as well as philosophy. In fact, she was so well-versed that she became a very well-known
teacher at the Neoplatonic school of Alexandria; she taught philosophy and astronomy. This school grounded their particular education in the teachings of infamous figures Plato and Aristotle. It catered largely to both Christian and Pagan students, and many who were of the Pagan faith became loyal pupils and friends of Hypatia.
Aside from her educational endeavors, Hypatia also spent time constructing various tools for use in her fields, such as the hydrometer and astrolabes. Even though she didn’t invent them, she showed great familiarity with their functionality.
Hypatia’s great relationships with her pupils influenced the effects of historical events on her life. The religious divide in Alexandria was very tumultuous and chaotic, and possibly led to the burning of the Great Library of Alexandria. There were books from the Library believed to be kept in the Serapeum, a temple of the Greco-Roman god Serapis, led by Saint Theophilus of Alexandria. That temple was eventually destroyed as well due to its ties to the Great Library.
Coincidentally, Theophilus was associated with one of Hypatia’s devoted pupils, Synesius. These mutual ties temporarily permitted Hypatia to continue her work until her death. Once the theologian St. Cyril ascended into his power, he continued his uncle Theophilus’s work by enabling the violence against non-Christian civilians. Hypatia was gruesomely murdered by a group of fanatical Christians; Hypatia was a well-known Pagan and fell victim to their rioting.
Despite her demise, Hypatia remains a powerful feminist icon and influential mathematician. She represented great resilience, female empowerment and a perseverance to break the mold that’s been repeatedly inflicted upon feminine figures in the past and present.
August 20, 2023
Ancient Greece – Since The Beginning
How ancient Greece birthed an entire foundation of thought for modern day technology & intellect
Origins of Mathematical Knowledge
A multitude of classical and archaic communities paved the way for modern life and thought. Civilizations such as Rome, China, India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and many more were able to start an array of practices- from SCRATCH. They were not privileged with many of the resources we have today, so they relied on futuristic thought and hard labor to create a life they were happy with (and proud of).
One of the fundamental empires is Greece, a civilization rich with philosophical thought, groundbreaking strategy, and a jubilant social nature. They provided a historical miscellany of concepts and contraptions, which lays ground for many of the practical modalities we modernized in order to build our own civilization. Humankind embodies many Greek contributions on an intellectual basis, and we don’t even know it!
There’s so much to dive into when exploring ancient Greek culture. Despite the ecosystem of knowledge they’ve nourished, there is a core contribution that initially planted the seed of their impact + influence on modern day thought.
Major Contributions from Ancient Greece
One of ancient Greece’s most influential contributions primarily involves the school of thought. Logic, philosophy, and academia was one of their strong suits, for many schools of thought were born and flourished. They all lay a foundation for other areas of thought to incubate. However, one of their greatest subjects of impact is mathematics.
Math is the backbone for many other areas of knowledge we’ve used such as Science, Astronomy, Architecture & Engineering, Warfare, even Agriculture. The Greeks needed to concoct a logical methodology to formulate tools, tricks, and processes that would build their empire as efficiently as possible.
LONG before modern technology, math was a slightly more laborious process. For instance, everything was written or through word of mouth; for instance, ancient civilizations kept charts and tables on clay tablets or papyrus scripts. And because the value of thought was so potent, the exchange was that much more impactful!
Between 685-525 BCE, (before the common era), Egypt’s ports along the Nile river opened up to Greek trade, breaking the barrier of interaction between them. With the migration of people & goods, both verbal and written communication acted as the vehicle to carry Egyptian ideas about math. That explains how and why much of Greek mathematics was adopted from the nearby civilization.
Egypt and their neighbors, like Mesopotamia and Ionia, had some of the finest math in the world. They utilized calculations for engineering purposes, to build structures for living and business such as the Great Pyramids or boats for trade & transportation. Unlike the others, the Greeks took these mathematical calculations to create practical applications for effective life skills.
Rigor was a major characteristic of Greek math. It was meticulous, exact, and at times super specific. They spent much of their effort contemplating deeper connotations behind the math they were working on. Even the word theorem evolved from the Greek word theoreo, which translates to “I contemplate”. Therefore, Greek math was intricately rooted in the association between mathematical review and analytical scrutiny.
Here are some of the most common contributions ancient Greek math gave to modern and even Western thought:
Ratios of a Triangle: Many of us have dabbled with the Pythagorean theorem, a tool proposed by one of ancient Greece’s most impactful mathematicians, Pythagoras. The 3:4:5 triangle was easily understood as a right triangle, but the Greeks were incredibly interested in the specificities of this abstract thought unlike their Egyptian benefactors.
Eventually, they expanded on it further by trying to calculate the longest side of the triangle (the hypotenuse) by calculating the similarity between the two smaller sides. This cracked open an intellectual revolution!
Numerical System: One of the most popular and widely-used tools the Greek created was their base system. By picking one core number, they formulated a number system for real-life usage that was easily divisible; this helped especially with fractions and proportions.
The ancient Greeks used the base number 60, which wasn’t as difficult to apply as we think. It’s a moderately divisible number with lots of other divisible factors, which made it a pretty flexible system to work with.
Square Root: This was an idea concocted a tad after the Pythagorean theorem swept civilization. With the new theorem begged a new question: if two sides of a right triangle are 1 unit, and the diagonal side equates to the square root of the two sides, what is it’s exact calculation?
After trying to find the square root of 2 and realizing it was irrational, this opened a world of questions regarding the square root of all numbers and what made them rational versus irrational.
Geometry: This is an entire discipline with math that works with the properties and relationships between lines, points, shapes, surfaces, and higher dimensional figures. With Greek architecture and engineering came the need for deep understanding of shapes and their dimensional properties.
Because it was a time of practicality, the Greeks were really using geometry as a logistical science to calculate land measurements. This was also a practice that originated with the Egyptian mathematical perspective; how do you think they built the Pyramids so beautifully?
Proofs: Known as one of the most tedious and difficult techniques to master, proofs are arguments based in inference and math logic to assure the answer to a problem is correct! Other theorems and math techniques can be applied to verify the validity of the proof, encouraging the practice of deductive reasoning with logic.
The first mathematical proof was credited to another Greek math icon, Thales of Miletus. He also proposed proofs that concerned ALL mathematical shapes and figures, not just the abstract ones! His contributions kickstarted the discussion of what the Universe was made of.
August 13, 2023
Math Fun
Have Your Fun, and Learn From It Too! — Why Games Can Make for a GREAT Option to Optimize Math Review
Let’s Have Some FUN
To sharpen learning retention in kids, it’s highly advantageous to have their full attention. And it’s even more advantageous to express the learning review in a way that’s digestible yet productive.
This is especially applicable and prevalent in math education, a discipline that requires a lot of practice and logistical awareness for the functionality of the techniques being taught. And hey, that can be unrealistic when you’re constantly lecturing them. Talking AT the students about math, or whatever they’re learning, doesn’t fully communicate the knowledge they need in order to understand what they’re being told. And even when you work one-on-one, instilling a two way path of communication about math, it may feel like pulling teeth with some kids. Admittedly, it isn’t the most enthralling of subjects for some young minds, and their resistance shows.
Another concern regarding communicable math review is the style in which you provide it. When addressing a class collectively, you’re catering to all kinds of learning styles. This can mean you have a cultivation of visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and even audio-visual learners. And although they each have individualized methods of retaining information, it is your job as an educator (or guardian) to mold a comprehensive yet constructive way to deliver the knowledge you need to.
Imagine being able to provide your students a tool, modality, or resource that not only TEACHES them the math they need, but grabs their attention in a positive and engaging way. Wouldn’t that be just AWESOME?
What’s the solution, you ask? Certainly NOT dumping a heavy review on them with no direction or energetic buffer. Instead, a better approach may be to keep it lighter in deliverance!
It’s become increasingly popular to include more lighthearted, enjoyable math reviews in the classroom through games. Yep, that’s right- games! Board games, computer games, CARD GAMES… that enjoyable pastime we highly encourage kids to participate in. And because it receives a moderately positive response from kids, it’s a prime candidate for utilization in school!
Why are they so beneficial you ask? Well, the primary appeal of games is that they’re designed to be lightly competitive but enjoyable. Not only that, they’re also easy to grasp once you play a few times (at least kid-friendly games are). If you were to find a way to incorporate math into a widely-known game structure, you create a refreshing review that actually gets the students excited to try it!
And what students love most about games is the childlike creativity or fun! If you bring a recognizable character, storyline, even movie into your classroom and use it to communicate your teaching, the students may grasp it more attentively! They naturally gravitate towards things they find enjoyable.
What games are best to use in a classroom? Well, that’s entirely situational.
If you have a smaller class size, you can split the class evenly and do multiple rounds of a one-on-one style game. For the larger-sized classes, team games are always a great way to instill community, teamwork, accountability, and enthusiasm! Students always receive teams well because they don’t want to feel isolated in their learning, and a few minds are always better than just one.
Ask yourself about these important factors when creating math review games:
Is this a game that is familiar to my students, or at least digestible in terms of difficulty?
If I give them the clear-cut directions and allow a few practice rounds, will they be able to effectively retain the knowledge while participating in the game?
Does this game have any offensive, discriminatory, or inappopriate content originally included that I can take out for my purposes?
Does this game ensure I can implement the exact math I’m teaching relatively easily?
What are some clear cut boundaries I need to set with my students?
After careful consideration, outline a game that you believe will deliver what you’re aiming to.
And if you’re looking for some guidance, look no further…
Games for Inspiration
Trivia/Jeopardy: Split the class into a few medium sized teams and create trivia style questions about math. You can give them whiteboards or paper to work out the problem on the screen, all the while collaborating with their classmates. Whoever has the correct answer first wins whatever reward was assigned to the question! This also broadens their knowledge of the discipline overall. A popular electronic trivia game is Kahoot!
What’s Missing: Memory is such an integral skill in math, and it should be exercised to the best of its ability! Present an equation, or visual representation of a problem (this is a great game for geometry-based questions) and ask the students what step or factor is missing! This helps them increase awareness for problem solving as well as formula-based questions.
True or False: Present a math equation or world problem (bonus if it’s on your assessments) and give the students an answer. It’s up to them to work on the problem on their own and decide if the answer you originally gave them was the correct one or a false one. This is also a great opportunity to work through the problem as a class AFTER you tell them if it’s true or false; some students may get it wrong, so if you show them the mistakes or misconceptions they’ll retain it. And this also helps them create a growth mindset!
Match the Equation: Matching card games are super quick, easy, and fun! You can create a deck that splits into: problems vs. answers, formulas vs. what they’re meant for, shapes vs. dimensions (size, shape, sides, etc). This is a flexible game style that’s suitable for all ages!
August 6, 2023
Watering Your Money Tree: The Money Mindset
How Implementing Basic Math Skills Can Greatly Improve Your Money Mindset
A Different Kind of Green Energy
Money is boundless energy proven quite influential to our current socioeconomic systems. Everything seems to come at a price, and drives much of how we contribute to the collective with work and life.
And yet, it’s able to be solved, deciphered, even managed with the use of common math. It’s no wonder why accounting, marketing, finance, and many more industries are booming- they utilize this core piece of our earliest education to structure it!
Let’s not be blind to the similarities; math and money are both numerical, logistical, and quantitative disciplines. If we didn’t have math to help us budget our personal finances or calculate economic relations, where would we be?
Which is one of the many MANY reasons why teaching math in a comprehensive way is super important. Money, and the mindset around money, has become a refreshingly popular topic of discussion these last few years. With a handful of economic crashes, loss of jobs, and the world in turmoil amidst a global pandemic, many people are coming to realize they’ve been perceiving their money all wrong.
So, What Exactly IS a Money Mindset?
And more importantly… WHERE does it come from?
A money mindset is your individualized collection of beliefs of money that fuel much of your attitude towards it. It forms long before you even begin to start handling your own finances, brewing inside the subconscious of your mind.
The sociologist Morris Massey theorized that there are three major periods of life in which life values, ideas, and perceptions are developed. There’s the Imprint period, Modeling period, and Socialization Period. Why is this important?
Well, between ages zero to seven years of age (the Imprint period), the human brain heavily resembles a sponge that absorbs any information it encounters. Much of your money mindset was developed there. You were exposed to others’ predisposed and existing money beliefs that were either expressed or inflicted upon you, especially by those who raised you.
While you may also acquire new or similar beliefs around money, the most profound influences on money occur during these years when your mind is most impressionable. And you may not even realize it, but you carry those impressions into your everyday monetary beliefs and behaviors. You subconsciously harbor an attachment style to your money, how you use it, and the emotions that arise; money is seen as a resource many use to take out their stress or success.
Essentially, the mindset you harbor and subsequently channel when making financial decisions like purchases and investments all have to do with your mindset around money itself. And you know what? It’s hard. Sometimes it can be brutal. It’s difficult to escape something that’s been conditioned in you since your earliest core memories- but you can alter them consciously to slowly assimilate or revitalize your entire view.
With the growth of knowledge through technology, it’s become significantly easier to be re-educated on how to manage your money. There are coaches, courses, media influencers, and so many more looking to enhance our financial consciousness. Because even though you live in a capitalist society with very clear-cut ideas about how money can be made and used, it may not always fit your values, needs, or background.
And even though how you use money is much more in your mind than in math, you can still incorporate mathematical skills and strategies in order to increase your awareness, and therefore your financial security.
Bring On the Math
On a fundamental level, using math can help you organize, plan, and allot for many different kinds of expenses! You can manage a business (if you’re an owner of one), save up for big life investments (car, house, college fund, etc.), put some money into stock, and even budget for a new item or experience you’ve been DYING to acquire.
Something critically important to remember about money is that it is an energy just as much as it is a resource. It is natural for it to come and go, and much of how you react or respond to these transactions will affect the ebb & flow of your financial wealth.
In terms of actual math skills, basic arithmetic such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are practical starting methods. You can accumulate various answers for an assortment of situations; the use of arithmetic can help you calculate static or consistent numbers if you’re working with a steady income or payment.
Arithmetic is the more obvious and digestible math to use, but there are plenty of people who balance their finances with advanced strategies- and the help of technology. If you do not have access to such resources, then freshening up your mental math skills (and getting a calculator) is a great place to start.
If you’re beginning the journey to healing or bettering your money mindset, try keeping a money journal or spreadsheet (if you have access to a computer). This will be the place to record your daily and weekly expenses, which can help you craft your monthly budgets!
By keeping a detailed account of where your money goes and returns, it’ll increase your awareness. And when we broaden the scope of our awareness, we tend to feel more empowered and confident in taking aligned action.
July 30, 2023
A Universe of Numbers
How Math Greatly Affects our Daily Life and Development of Civilization
Math has worked WONDERS for our daily lives. You may not personally enjoy the subject yourself, and that’s okay! However, it’s difficult to disregard just how influential math has become in modern society, and the development of civilization as a whole.
It’s deeply ingrained in everything we’ve built, negotiated, engineered, and modernized. It provides order in our lives and minimizes the chaos. Our statistics, logic, ethics, and deeply encoded practices all have math to thank. And whether we see it or not, math materializes into phenomena all around us.
Math is a globally understood and utilized knowledge, which opens us up to connecting in ways we typically couldn’t. When we encounter an opportunity to have an exchange of knowledge, we can only grow in our comprehension. That’s probably why so many of our biggest advancements came into fruition when a great discovery in math was made.
I mean, take a look at the ancient Egyptians… once they discovered how to apply their mathematical findings, the Great Pyramids came to be and, well, the rest is history.
Even when we aren’t in active math mode or solving something directly in front of us, it’s a skill we implement daily. It forges our cognitive, intellectual, and academic discipline- and yes, we use it in domestic situations as well! What do you think lays the foundation for things like cooking, telling time, even filling our homes with furniture?
What are the benefits of math in daily life? Oh, let us count some (of the infinite) ways…
Daily Benefits of Math
Builds Mental Discipline: It’s no secret that math is an incredibly rigorous topic to learn and master, which we’ve been exposed to from very young ages. The numbers, equations, formulas, proofs, measurements, shapes… they are all intricately designed with their unique set of rules and methods. When we are presented with a problem to solve or decipher, it’s on us and our discipline to consistently show up and remain engaged. In order to get the answers we need to understand the math, that involves discipline and perseverance to get it done.
Can Help Build a Growth Mindset: This is especially useful for young minds & students, since they don’t have as much emotional or mental regulation. Our brains naturally react to a roadblock in two ways: find another solution or give up. When math presses us with a similar kind of obstacle, it gives us the option to learn the technique effectively by trying an improved strategy or settle for the wrong answer. Encouraging younger students or those starting out in math to find a new means of solving the problem helps stretch and grow their brain by LEARNING from prior mistakes. If we don’t learn, how can we be expected to do better?
Logical + Quantitative Reasoning: These are two fundamental elements to developing an argument. Providing the logical explanation or function combined with quantitative approaches can establish necessary evidence to prove the validity! Combining these both will cultivate inductive, deductive, even statistical methods. When applied to math, this can aid in analyzing the deeper meanings that the math insinuates.
A Language of Science + Technology: Although Science and Technology are their own innovative fields, math helps to organize and communicate their information. When math is applied to technology, it can help people such as scientists and engineers create systemic and productive practices to transmit useful knowledge. It also helps specify what is necessary to construct the tools and advancements making our daily lives that much easier.
Foundation for MANY fields: Aside from the obvious, math lays a strong infrastructure for many other fields. For instance, math is utilized in cooking, architecture, politics, economics, accounting, finance, mass production, and so many more fields. Jobs in ALL of these fields most likely require a background in math, being that they all use different disciplines within math to find what they’re looking for.
Paves Way for Invention: Obviously humanity would not be where it is without math to help them modify their inventions. With the use of math (and even a growth mindset), we can find new ways to strengthen or improve an idea or physical creation. If you read early Greek works revolving around the understanding of the Universe, they resorted to math to support their philosophical discoveries.
Helps Us Understand The Universe: Yes, math pervades all forms of universal matter. Even quantifiable amounts of sub particles can alter the impact of a singular atom. Things such as sacred geometry, quantum physics, and mathematical structure that explains all things discoverable (and still not discovered) in our Universe.
Encourages Critical Thinking: When it comes to math, critical thinking implies there is a reasonable decision or judgment needed to be made to execute the problem. In other words, the person doing the math must make thought-out decisions given the information and mathematical criteria at hand.
July 23, 2023
Introducing… Euclid!
How the Contributions of One Alexandrian Mathematician Influenced the Course of Human Thought
What Started As A Thought…
Soon blossomed into an entire movement of thought and education.
We’ve all been taught about ancient Greece as well as their intellectually rich culture. They birthed and molded so many foundational leaders of thought in realms such as math, philosophy, religion, even art and architecture.
One of the most contributors to the evolution of math is Euclid. Euclid was known and referred to as the “father” or “founder” of Geometry. Geometry is a very distinct field within mathematics responsible for explaining the relationships of planes and objects. We all start to integrate geometrical knowledge when we learn the properties of shapes, points, lines, and the connection between them all!
Euclid is the namesake of Euclidean geometry, which is the basis of plane geometry like his published works allude to. But we’ll get into that later!
About Euclid
What we know of Euclid derives from a summary of famous mathematicians contrived by Greek philosopher Proclus (410-485 CE). Very little detail is actually known about Euclid’s life, however, has been hypothesized and framed by key events: his birth, death, and prominent mathematical contributions.
Euclid was born approximately 325 BCE and hails from the great Alexandria, a prominent civilization in Egypt. It is believed he passed there as well about 265 BC.
He taught in Alexandria at the time of Ptolemy I Soter (367/366-283/282 BC), the Macedonian ruler of Egypt.
In the summary procured by Proclus, it describes Euclid stating:
Not much younger than these [pupils of Plato] is Euclid, who put together the “Elements”… for Archimedes, who followed closely upon the first Ptolemy makes mention of Euclid, and further they say that Ptolemy once asked him if there were a shorted way to study geometry than the Elements, to which he replied that there was no royal road to geometry…
Euclid of Alexandria is typically mistook for Euclid of Megara, who lived 100 years before he was even born! And even though much of his existence remains in question, there is absolutely no doubt that he provided one of the most revolutionary pieces of work for math to evolve in the following 2000 years.
Euclid’s Contributions + Euclidean Geometry
What did Euclid ultimately contribute to math?
He wrote a collection of work known as the Elements. Euclid’s Elements is a compilation of postulates, proposals, and rules of geometry. There are five postulates introduced at the beginning of this collection, assuming the existence of points and lines and how they relate to one another.
The five postulates state:
– A straight line segment can be drawn to connect any two points.
– Any straight line segment can extend indefinitely in a straight line.
– Given any straight line segment, a circle can be drawn having the segment as a radius and one endpoint (of the segment) as the circle’s center.
– All right angles are congruent (equal).
– If a straight line falling on two straight lines makes the interior angles on the same side less than two right angles, the two straight lines, if produced indefinitely, meet on that side on which are the angles less than the two right angles.
The fifth postulate defines what’s known as a parallel postulate, and it has not been proven yet despite many attempts.
You’ll probably find many of these postulates as basic rules introduced to you when you learned what geometry was! Elements essentially highlights the fundamentals of Euclidean geometry, which is taught in secondary education.
There are thirteen books in total, highlighting definitions and propositions revolving around the theory of geometry, proportions, circles, number theory, geometric algebra, and solid figures. Euclid dives into great detail for each subject he accentuates with his writing to ensure the comprehension of how they all correlate to one another.
It’s one of the oldest surviving mathematical publications known to humankind, which is why it’s been carried into our prevalent education today.
Why Is It Important?
Subcategories of math such as geometry and number theory help us develop a wide array of applications. For instance, geometry helps us develop and understand spatial awareness as well as relationships. This helps us create modern structures that hold up, and it also helps us find shapes for functional inventions. Without the fundamental knowledge of circles, polygons, and solid shapes, we wouldn’t have half the stuff we use on a daily basis!
July 16, 2023
Calling In Some Tutoring Help
Here’s why YOU Should Consider a Tutor for That Extra Push
School Of Thought
We all need support. There are times where we’ll need it more than usual, but needless to say community is an incredible resource. Support is a way to surrender to our vulnerability and seek a little comfort.
And when it comes to education, support is not just a resource but a NECESSITY.
Everybody is adept in different fields of knowledge, so stepping into areas of unknown can be quite frustrating. It’s especially uncomfortable for young kids, who get frustrated much easier when they don’t receive instant gratification (or understanding).
If they’re in traditional schooling, they’re probably learning multiple subjects at a time- and that can get overwhelming! It’s difficult to expect perfection in EVERY area they embark on, so what’s a kid to do?
That’s why it’s super important to consider any and all resources available to them! Outside of a regular classroom setting, there’s a multitude of ways to incorporate extra care to supplement education. One of the more personalized experiences is hiring or finding a tutor!
Tutors can explore ANY subject, from writing to science to math and even to test preparation. They’re especially useful for math education since so many kids are not naturally affluent in this dense discipline.
But what REALLY makes a tutor so enthralling? Oh, let us list the ways!
Why Tutors Are Worthwhile
Tutors are personable, malleable, and considerate people able to provide a refreshing perspective to a learning experience. They may bring new and even revolutionary approaches to comprehending the fundamentals or machinations of an educational area.
What are the biggest benefits of hiring a tutor? Here are some core benefits just to name a few!
Provides an Intimate Experience: Tutors not only provide a unique learning experience but it’s a direct exchange between an educator and student; that constitutes a nurturing atmosphere! You can find tutors that work one-on-one or in smaller group volumes, which can make the actual environment less distracting or intimidating! There are going to be private educators that will work with your needs or goals, and may even introduce new ideas to broaden your tool kit.
Have An Individual Approach: Every tutor is going to bring something different to the table. What’s so inspiring about tutors is their unique perspective and teaching styles! While traditional teachers & educators do the same- they do have to follow institutionalized rules and regulations. Tutors show up to their containers bringing a lifetime of experience, knowledge, OTHER resources, and more to cultivate a one-of-a-kind experience.
Easily Accessible: With the age of technology comes more and more ways to access what we need- especially amidst a global pandemic! One of the coolest things about seeking a tutor is the various platforms you can discover them on! Aside from the usual in-person options, you can find a virtual tutor as well! This goes to show how flexible and accommodating tutors can be, and it doesn’t limit you to a certain proximity! Tutors can be found anywhere and passionate about helping you achieve your desired outcomes.
Primarily There to HELP You: Although this is a full-time or part-time profession for these people, they’re all there to help YOU. Tutors are passionate about bringing new and refreshing ways to learn into someone’s space, which is what makes each and every encounter with them so amazing! Regardless of the amount of students they teach at a time or the subject at hand, the tutor is there to give that extra push of support and accountability you need to level up your learning!
What To Consider
Aside from ALL the benefits of hiring a tutor, there are a multitude of things for YOU to consider so you know what exactly to look for.
Here are some powerful questions to help you get started:
– What are you looking to learn more about, or master? This is going to help you niche the content demographic for your future educator.
– If you’re looking for someone else (i.e. a child you interact with or student you teach), what seems to be their biggest setback?
– What ACTUALLY needs to be broadened: the understanding of the content, or methods to better execute it? Some people have harder times understanding the functions of what they’re learning rather than the content itself.
– What are some qualities and characteristics you want to experience with your tutor?
– Are there any other learning accommodations you need to consider?
– Do you learn better in-person, virtually, or a mix?
– What kind of learner are you (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, audiovisual)?
July 2, 2023
What Is Meditation?
Meditation is a practice that equips someone with the ability to draw focus to a particular object, thought, or activity in order to train a deeper awareness. It’s believed to be so beneficial because of its impact on one’s achievement of clarity, relaxation, or emotional stability!
You’ve probably heard this word being paired with “Mindfulness”, which is the awareness of the present moment. When you put them together, you get something called “Mindfulness Meditation” which is a practice able to help you draw focus to the present in order to bring stillness, peace, or emotional clarity to what’s currently happening. Mindfulness meditation is incredibly helpful for grounding your being and alleviating symptoms of ruminating thoughts, anxiety, stress, even depression.
However, meditation is a very malleable practice with lots of versions to accommodate any and all needs. You can find meditations for pretty much anything, but also mold it to fit your individual desires!
The Benefits of Meditation
There are many proven benefits to meditation in social, emotional, and mental capacities! Here are just some of the core perks:
Improved Attention: Those who meditate can eventually condition themselves to attune their focus much more easily, effectively, and naturally! Attention is something many of us deal with especially in times of stress or anxiety, so meditation can act as that grounding force.
Boosts Immune System: New studies and clues indicate that meditation CAN boost the immune system! Negative emotions, traumas, and more have the power to manifest inside our body, so meditation can help us begin to release those stresses and connect deeper with our bodily instincts.
Longer Concentration: The strengthened attention can help prolong one’s ability to concentrate on tasks! Performing a task or set of them can be difficult when someone can get overwhelmed or pressured by external stresses, so incorporating meditation into a daily routine will improve the fluidity of someone’s day–to-day responsibilities!
Lower Stress Levels: Reducing stress is a very typical motivating factor in why people take up meditation! Stress is usually produced as a result of ruminating thoughts about the past or future, draining tasks or interactions, and more. By integrating meditation into everyday life, you can create space to decompress from these taxing thoughts and have more time to actually enjoy the present moment.
Why Meditation Should Be Encouraged In the Classroom!
Meditation shouldn’t just stay in yoga classes or within the adult community- you people can benefit from it, too! This can become an especially useful resource for kids in school, being that it can be quite a stressful environment for them.
Here’s why meditation should be encouraged in educational environments:
Increased Focus = Less Distractions: When children are unable to pay attention for prolonged periods of time, their schooling isn’t nearly as effective. They are unable to retain a majority of the knowledge- but that can change! Meditation can encourage students to bring themselves into the present, and by fortifying their focusing skills they won’t be as distracted! Less distractions leave more room for productive growth!
Cope with Stress + Emotions Better: Stress is never going to go away completely; we all experience it in different ways. Emotional regulation can be tough for younger people, so giving them the tools to start early is a great idea! Meditation has the ability to bring down the heightened bodily and emotional sensations, which gives children the space to process what they’re thinking and feeling.
Helps with Nerves during Test Taking: As a result of the stress reduction, stressful tasks are not as daunting! Children face many assessments, exams, projects, and responsibilities that heighten their fear of failure. So, meditation can be a great preparatory exercise so they can attack their assignments with clarity and even more confidence.
Calmer State of Mind: Schools can be very chaotic, even draining environments for some kids. They deserve to feel secure, safe, and comfortable in the places they exist in for long periods of time. Meditation can help- the connection between body and mind will calm the childrens’ nervous systems for a more pleasant attitude.
Strengthened Social Skills: Children are very impressionable people, and one negative experience can harm them. This is applicable when making friends, which is a very stressful thing when it’s not always as organic or easy! Meditation can help a student regulate their own selves so they know how to better approach their peers and create stronger bonds.
Develop Empathy: Those who consistently practice meditation have a greater ability to show deep understanding of others’ perspectives. This can be incredibly beneficial in school environments, where many young individuals are exposed to different viewpoints. Empathy can help a student resolve a conflict, understand a relational situation, or just ground their mind before reacting to something.
Improves Overall Self-Esteem + Confidence: Students can have a VERY hard time attacking their assignments and learning with confidence. Meditation, especially when incorporating affirming statements, will broaden their belief systems. The positive, more mindful thinking will allow them to recognize their worth and capability! The improved self-esteem will better ALL areas of life, but show in the results of their education.
If you are curious to know more about why meditation is so beneficial, there are many articles out there to help you with research! This one is a great yet simple summary of what you can find!
June 24, 2023
Be Mindful
How Mindfulness Exercises Can Be Integrated Into Educational Environments For Beneficial Purposes
What IS Mindfulness?
With the swarm of a global pandemic, quarantine, and an assortment of crises, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the madness of it all. So when looking for resources and methods to alleviate these tensions, mindfulness has gained some major popularity!
What is it exactly? In basic terms, Mindfulness is the human awareness and ability to be in the present moment. It encompasses a variety of thoughts, actions, and beliefs we ALL already possess, but take time and energy accessing. Mindfulness has been practiced since ancient times, but only studied within recent years.
Mindfulness is especially beneficial for those who experience tense emotions and detrimental thought cycles. Within recent years, mindfulness has been encouraged in the classroom for kids to help them retain education better.
DISCLAIMER: Mindfulness exercises are not a cure-all for deep rooted anxiety, depression, and trauma. It is a great outlet to incorporate with other methodologies, so please consult your doctor or a therapist when exploring Mindfulness for your needs.
Why You Should Get Into the RIGHT Headspace
Mindfulness-oriented practices have been proven beneficial for many fields and activities. In its entirety, mindfulness gets us to reflect and attune to our instincts, needs, and wants to uncover deeper rooted mental or emotional blockages.
More recently, there has been a movement to integrate Mindfulness exercises and values into school environments. This ensures kids not only will learn to strengthen their emotional & mental regulation skills, but succeed in their academic endeavors.
Here are a few of the infinite reasons why Mindfulness should be brought into education!
Increased Focus: Non-judgmental attentiveness, especially towards the present moment, increases awareness for what’s currently happening in the classroom. When focus is increased in school, the students will more likely retain the content being taught to them! This helps them build a deeper understanding for the material and its usage.
More Attentive To Details: The overall increase in focus will also heighten a student’s attention to detail. This can be especially beneficial for many school subjects that require critical thinking, like literature and math! Their connection to the present will open them up to make astute observations able to help me construct more effortlessly effective answers or understandings.
Confidence In Participation: If a student feels strong in their abilities, they’ll feel more inclined to voice their perspective in class! It’s quite common for them to get easily intimidated by their fear of failure or rejection for an incorrect answer, so bringing Mindfulness into their space will allow them to observe and focus in such a way that is more positive and doesn’t make them feel judged!
Growth Mindset: Mindfulness is being able to learn AND evolve from your current choices, behaviors, and beliefs. If you incorporate Mindfulness into the class, then the students will be able to attack their assignments with the knowledge that even if they don’t get it right the first time, the failure or setback still provides them with productive learning for future situations.
Problem Solving Skills: This particular trait requires patience, determination, and recollection of skills and knowledge to devise the best solution to a given problem. Mindfulness can alleviate some of that usual academic pressure that clouds our articulation of potential avenues of solution. Critical, divergent, and logical thinking skills can be strengthened when students are taught to identify their stresses and instead deal with them rather than suppress them and succumb to emotional problems.
Decreased Stress: Everybody can get worked up when something isn’t going flawlessly or even their way- which is okay and VERY human! Mindfulness really allows us to focus on our innate awareness and morph it into a purposeful power. When we allow ourselves to focus on what’s actually happening and not ruminate on the past or future hypotheticals, stress levels can decrease which also helps with anxiety!
Social AND Emotional Wellbeing: Mindfulness helps with emotional regulation, which kids don’t know how to do as well as full grown adults. If you start them young, they’ll be able to communicate more openly, build sustainable relationships, and do what’s best for themselves as well as others!
Academic Performance: All in all, the mental and emotional spaces students can reach with the help of Mindfulness will fortify their academic performance! They won’t relinquish their talent, attention, or patience to a projected frustration and be able to do what’s in front of them.
Mindfulness Ideas for Your Educative Space
Meditation: Mindfulness in itself is a form of meditation, but you can find all different kinds of meditative exercises to suit your needs! Full body scans, sensory meditations, and intuitive movement are just some examples of this practice.
Breathing Exercises: We take this involuntary action for granted on a daily basis, and can be quite a grounding resource! It helps us tune into our nervous systems when we use the breadth and timing of our breathing to bring our body back into a stable state.
Journaling: Being in the present is hard for some with ruminating thoughts or anxiety, so putting your thoughts and feelings OUTSIDE of yourself can be helpful! It’ll encourage students to be more expressive about what they’re experiencing which helps with emotional regulation and awareness.
Heartbeat Exercises: Just like breathing, our hearts provide us with an involuntary function that carries us through day-to-day life. When we experience stress or anxiety, our heart rates can accelerate causing us to feel frantic or unstable. If you tune into what’s occurring inside your body, your thoughts will naturally flow and gravitate towards the root of what’s causing these negative emotions.
Quiet Time: Silence can speak volumes! Even just a few minutes a day of pure silence will give students a calm, safe space to reflect and relax which is helpful in long, arduous days of dense schooling!
There are many more exercises designed for kids in the classroom that you can experiment with and see what works and what doesn’t!