Concept Spotlight: Common Core Story Problems

In a nutshell: Check out the following story problems relating to fraction estimation to ensure you are prepared to help with similar problems

The following story problems explore a Common Core approach to estimating with fractions. Because Yup’s subject range aligns with the Common Core curriculum, it is important that you are prepared to help students with problems like this going forward.

While they may seem counterintuitive at first glance, these problems are simply asking the student to take less common fractions (like 5/8) and round them to simple fractions or whole numbers (like 1/2) that are easier to add or subtract. They can then estimate the sums or differences to determine if a given answer is reasonable. Note that we are not finding exact values here, but simply estimating.

For example, in #10, we can round  5/8  to  1/2  and  1/8  to  0, to get an estimated sum of  1/2 + 0 = 1/2 . This tells us that the student’s sum, 1/8, would not be a reasonable answer to this problem (see option C).

Problem #16 follows a similar approach. How might you conduct a session if you were faced with #16?

Thanks! We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

— Team Yup

Discussion:

Team Session Analysis

After reading through the following session…

  • What are some aspects of this session that don’t align with Yup’s ideologies?
  • How could this tutor ensure that the student’s learning needs were being met and knowledge gaps fully addressed?

Feel free to use timestamps to refer to a specific interaction.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts!

— Team Yup

Discussion:

Session of the Week + Performance Bonuses + Report Cards

SESSION OF THE WEEK WINNER

Congratulations to Session of the Week winner, Usha Ramakrishnan! Your upbeat attitude created a really positive learning environment, Usha— well done! Your bonus will be included with your next paycheck.


Nominate one of your own sessions via the submission form.


PERFORMANCE BONUS RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to the following tutors who achieved Top Ten tutor rankings for two or more consecutive weeks, earning them $25
performance bonuses. Great work!

– James Zelin Chen
– Finka Bankovic
– Max Bathman


REPORT CARDS

Report cards are up-to-date after grading delays and now reflect the most recent QA week, 1/9 – 1/15. Email us at tutor.support@yup.com if you need your Report Card link or have questions.

Happy tutoring!

— Team Yup

Discussion:

Discussion Question + Calculus: What DON’T we cover?

Team Discussion

Today’s discussion question comes from math tutor Robert Wear:

“I know it’s important to use the whiteboard, but sometimes, I feel like using it interrupts the flow of conversation if the session is going quickly. What pointers do you guys have to make it less awkward?”

Calculus: What concepts DON’T we cover?

While Yup covers most basic calculus concepts, occasionally we do receive calculus questions that fall outside of our range.  To distinguish between basic and higher level calculus, we use the AP Calculus concept outline, which is divided across two courses: Calculus AB and Calculus BC. Currently, Yup only covers Calculus AB concepts. The following concepts fall under AP Calculus BC and are therefore outside of Yup’s range:

  • Calculating derivatives of vector-valued functions, parametric functions, and functions in polar coordinates
  • Using derivatives to determine velocity, speed or acceleration for a particle moving along curves given by parametric or vector-valued functions
  • Using derivatives of polar functions to provide information about a given curve.
  • Using definite integrals to determine displacement, distance, and position of a particle moving along a curve given by parametric or vector-valued functions
  • Solving problems involving planar motion
  • Using Euler’s method to approximate a solution or a point on a solution curve for differential equations
  • Evaluating improper integrals or showing that improper integrals diverge
  • Evaluating integrals using integration by parts or partial fractions
  • Applying definite integrals to problems involving length of a curve
  • Calculating areas bounded by polar curves with definite integrals
  • Calculating the length of a planar curve using definite integrals
  • Solving differential equations involving logistic growth
  • Determining whether a series converges or diverges
  • Determining or estimating the sum of a series
  • Constructing and using Taylor polynomials
  • Writing a power series to represent a given function
  • Determine the radius and interval of convergence of a power series

As always, let us know what questions you have!

— Team Yup

Discussion: