Frederick Slack - T&T Mathematics Tutor

Hello fabulous parents and students. Today, I have an observation, and then a question. I have noticed that with how important to be literate it is in our country. The place that schools have really failed us the most is in literacy. Our ability to read, write, and do mathematics as a country is declining at an alarming pace.

What got me into education in the first place was a statistic that said, 20 years ago, 70% of fourth graders cannot read on their level. And, if you cannot read on your level by the fourth grade, it is nearly impossible to catch up. That number has gone up in the intervening years. Instead of 70%, it is now over 80%. This is the failure of the education system.

So, I created Tutors & Teach with Jennifer Krahn. But the question I have is, if you have noticed that there is a real need to learn these skills, what is really holding you back from taking people up on their offers and taking on a tutor? It doesn't necessarily have to be me, I just would really like to know why you haven't hired a tutor yet.

Understanding Fractions

At its most basic, a fraction is a way to represent a part of a whole. The top number of the fraction, called the numerator, represents how many parts you have. The bottom number, called the denominator, represents how many parts make up the whole.

For example, if you have a pizza that is cut into eight equal slices, and you have three of those slices, you can represent that as a fraction: 3/8. The numerator (3) represents the number of slices you have, and the denominator (8) represents the total number of slices that make up the whole pizza.

It's important to note that fractions can also represent numbers that are greater than one. For example, if you have two whole pizzas and one slice of a third pizza, you can represent that as the mixed number 2 1/3. The whole number (2) represents the number of whole pizzas you have, and the fraction (1/3) represents the one slice of the third pizza.