Hi, I’m Julia, a math tutor and web developer in Boulder, CO. I grew up in Russia where, thanks to my parents, I had a whole shelf of popular math books, including translations of Martin Gardner, Lewis Carroll (you know he wrote amazing popular math books, right?), and many others. In my first advanced math class in high school I had an amazing teacher who introduced me to “real” math, logically precise and beautiful. As a result, I got my undergraduate degree in applied math and, after working in IT for a few years (think dinosaur mainframes with black-and-green monitors) I moved to the U.S. and received my PhD in math from the Ohio State University. Eventually I realized that mathematical research is not for me, and switched to a then-new and exciting world of web development, but math was still my first and greatest love. I also found out that I enjoyed helping students one-on-one more than doing research or teaching a class.
My road to aikido was a lot rockier. I took an aikido class just for fun when I was in graduate school, and liked it enough to try to continue afterwards. Unfortunately I quickly discovered I was really bad at it. I was never an athletic person, didn’t have the natural ability other dojo students seemed to have, and just thought I would never be good enough, so I quit and thought that was it. However, after a while something pushed me to try again, and after a few years I realized I wasn’t really “getting it”. I was trying to go through the motions without understanding the concepts behind them – just like many students who study math. Once I had a grasp of the concepts, I still wasn’t as strong or quick as some others, but I could keep getting better, with lots of help from the awesome teachers at Boulder Aikikai.
These experiences naturally led me to tutoring math. I love to show students that math is not just about calculations and techniques. To do well in math, they need to understand the topic in depth, be able to approach a problem from different angles, break it down into manageable parts, identify the gaps in their knowledge and eventually be ready to learn independently. Math can be fun, exciting and immensely rewarding. I help students build confidence and cultivate a growth mindset that views making mistakes as a necessary part of learning and welcomes challenges instead of fearing them.
Please contact me if you are interested in tutoring. I can tutor prealgebra through calculus. I also love to help kids who love math and don’t get enough of it in school. I offer TAG, homeschooling and online learning support, recreational math and contest problems.
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