Since still in kindegarten I was fascinated by Arithmetic. Is not that everything was coming natural to me; on the opposite I really enjoyed struggling to solve any problem, even the ones that weren't in the homework.
(In the photo above is the village where I grew up)
At junior high school I was introduced to mathematics. Some parts of it I liked and some I didn't. The whole blame for my negative feelings was not math itself but the learning process I was going through. Growing up in a small village in Greece, in the municipality of Mastixoxoria in the island of Chios, we were usually got teachers that just got out of college, inexperienced, and some not even interested in teaching but that was for them just an occupation they had to take to survive. The books provided for free by the Greek government were completely useless, were making the situation even worse.
(In the photo above from left to right my maternal grandfather, myself, my brother and the priest of the village in 1974)
I was lucky enough to have a brother a year senior than myself that will not only help me with concepts I wasn't getting but had in his disposal books that he already used and tutors to whom I got access.
(In the photo above the High School I graduated from)
(In the photo above is my graduation from University of Athens in 1990)
In senior high school I was for the first time introduced to physics and my first impression was not that different from the one in math at junior high school. And then the magic moment came when I was introduced to the greatest teacher I ever had in my life, Mr. Argurios Vasilakis. He was a physics and chemistry teacher in the best school in the island of Chios. He was tutoring my brother a year before who was just accepted in the medical school which was and still up today is the most difficult department to be accepted. Mr. Vasilakis since he was in high demand by students, even he was the most expensive private tutor (800 Greek draxmas) the equivalent of CAN$ 3.00 in the island, he was choosing his students carefully. He only accepted motivated students eager to succeed, so he can maintain his great reputation as a tutor. Thanks to the success of my brother he accepted me to be his student for my final year of high school. A very crucial year back then in Greece because depending on the mark that you will get in one final exam in 4 different subjects it will decide if you will be accepted in a university across the country. A very stressful undertaking for high school graduates. Only 5% from the students taking the exams will be accepted because back then there were only 5 universities and polytechniques across the country, the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, the National Metsovio Polytechnique, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Patras, and the University of Ioannina.
My introduction and mentorship in physics from Mr. Vasilakis was catalytic in deciding what career I would choose in my life. He was able to explain the most difficult concept in physics and by the end of it you were feeling like you already knew it. He was able to solve the most challenging problems of physics at this level without even have to waste a second to think about it. I was so fascinated by the subject and the teacher that I knew at this age of 17 years old what occupation I would love to do for the rest of my life; I wanted to become a physics teacher.
Finally at the end of the exams I got 17/20 in physics, 20/20 in chemistry, 17/20 in math and 17/20 in essay. These marks although don't look as great they were good enough to guarantee me a spot in the top of the list of the physics department of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. I was admitted 12th out of approximately 200 students that we were accepted in the year 1983.
Since I already knew that I will become a physics teacher from my first year in university I didn't loose any time. I started tutoring high school students, which was fun for me and at the same time I was making some money to pay the bills. In 1988 I had to take a break from university to serve for 2 years the Greek army which was and still is a mandatory commitment for all Greek males. Finally in May 1990 I was able to take the last 2 courses and graduated from the university with a degree called "ptuxio" which is the equivalent of Bachelor of Science in Physics around the world.
My older brother that already graduated with an MD from the same university he was already in USA trying to pass his ECFMG exam in order to be able to start his internship in USA. I came to visit him and I decided in the midtime to improve my English.. At the same time I was checking brochures of different universities both in USA and Canada, in education at the master's or PhD level. Finally since I was also born in Montreal Canada and have some family I decided in 1993 to pursue a Master in Math Education or M.T.M. at Concordia University. I was more interested in physics education but that was the closest I can get. The Director of the program then Professor Anna Sierpinska guarantee me to teach 4 undergraduate courses plus be a Research Assistant on a project she was working using Maple to teach Linear Algebra.
The program itself I didn't find very interesting but I was really enjoyed teaching these 4 courses, more specifically Math 203 twice, Math 205 and Math 209. I was becoming a very popular teacher and students from other sections of the courses will attend my lectures. I knew that they were really liking the way I was teaching and I can see that in their final marks but also their evaluation about myself. Finally in 1996 I graduated from Concordia University with M.T.M (Master in the Teaching of Mathematics) with specialization to teach at collegial level. That said part of the program was 24 credits in graduate courses in mathematics, the same courses that M.Sc. students had to take.
Afterwards I returned to Greece where for almost five years I tutored and taught math and physics in different settings and levels. Although moneywise I was doing great I wasn't happy with the administrators and the attitude of most of the students towards education, something that they had to pay few years after when deep recession hit Greece and the country had to be under the IMF and EU observation and austerity measures came into place.
Finally at year 2002 I came to Montreal a city that always loved where I had a lot of family and friends and I decided that this will be my home. I also knew that I didn't want to work in school settings where you have too much politics and too little productivity. I wanted to be able to do what I like which was teaching math and physics without having to deal with all the negatives of a school settings. I started small from posting flyers in universities and colleges supermarkets and wherever I though I could get a client..
Very soon I realized that this wasn't taking me very far in the business of tutoring. The prospects will not waste their time by keeping a piece of my flyer, to use it when they will need help. They will look for help when they will need it and since it was the time that the internet was blooming exponentially I decided to create my website which you are just happened to be in now. My website which is www.mathphysicseducation.com is almost19 years old is among the very first in Google search for queries like "math tutor" and "physics tutor" in the area of the island of Montreal.
I am presently very happy with what I am doing. Most of the work is done by myself but occasionally (specifically during final exams) I hire students from the cegeps and universities in the city that have passed the course that suppose to tutor with more than 90%.
The reasons for which I choose this occupation, besides the fact that I really enjoyed, are many. First and foremost is because without math and sciences we will still be living in caves. Anywhere one can turn your head will realize the technological revolution that is happening with exponential pace. It happens in all areas of our life, communications, medicine, transportation, etc. And in the forefront of all these developments are always math and physics. Of course this doesn't come without a cost both in economy and health. The development of technology requires a small percentage of skilled workers and the rest will be watching from the sidelines. Also a lot of health issues are the result of the technological revolution, obesity, and many diseases that come with the consumption of GMO food which comes cheap to feed the masses.
But is this the fault of math and physics and the people who break their heads all day in order for these to happen? Of course not. The people to blame for these issues are the politicians and the governments around the world who are unable to maintain a healthy balance between the technological revolution and the prosperity of their citizens. Profit should not be the compass of policies but rather the welfare of the people. But also to some degree we are responsible for those side effects of technology because we became very lazy and addicted to food which is tasty but is bad for our health.
Finally I am teaching these two subjects in an old fashion way that somehow challenge the status quo. I tried very hard to incorporate technology in my classrooms and with the students I tutor and I am convinced that these software, like Mathematica, Maple, they have nothing positive to add in the educational process. On the contrary they make it more confusing. And if you search in all the research in math and physics education you will not find even one concrete piece of evidence in favor of using technology in the classroom. My approach of teaching these two subjects is rather a traditional one, the way I learned it. I always first state a brief theory on the topic and then I continue with examples. It is very important that the student understands first the theory and then move to problems. The theory of the topic is the foundation in which you can add as many problems as you want. If the foundation is solid you can do excellent in the topic.
I know a lot of teachers using examples or applications to introduce students to a new topic. and then they try from these examples to draw the theory. Although this is pleasant for the students is insufficient and that's why you see students having great confidence about the particular concept but when they go on a test they fail. I will finally encourage and recommend all students to try to first understand the theory and not mechanically copy the one example to the other. This way I can assure them that when the time comes to face the final exam they will not have any negative surprises because their foundation will be solid.
