Knowing how to do something is only half the battle. Knowing when to do something is equally as important and unfortunately harder to manage. I first learned this lesson while teaching my Algebra 2 Honors class a few years back. I had been teaching factoring and there are dozens of different methods for accomplishing the task. I taught each method individually giving each method it's own day and when I would walk around class most of my students demonstrated a strong ability

As a former teacher and now full time tutor I have had the privilege of working with just about every type of student both in a classroom and one on one setting. Given this experience I have noticed something interesting that I don't think is often brought up among teachers and tutors. I have noticed that (for the most part) the best students put pencil to paper and write out their thoughts to work through a problem whereas below average achievers try to work through problems