Trick your Mind into Concentrating

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Recently I got a question from read that I think a lot of other readers would also like to ask. You may have a student, a child, or it might even be you that could use some Ideas to help with this issue. Here’s what the reader asked:

I was looking online for suggestions about how to teach kids to check work, when I came accross your website.
 
I liked the tone of what you wrote, and am writing you because of the experience I think your site conveys.  I am a volunteer tutor working with a 14 year old student.  He is a very fast thinker, but has very little experience being careful in doing almost anything. He either gets things quickly or drops the ball.  I am working with him on being persistent and checking things (which he probably needs to learn more than math), but it is tricky.  

He gets going so fast, and then sort of gives me a look of “I’m done” after finishing problems.  I find myself correcting him on each issue, but the bigger issue is not the mistake that he makes on any given problem, but instead his math style.  I recognize this, and try to address the issue, but I’m still having problems.  He reverts very quickly to his old ways and I feel overly critical always saying “you see you missed that.”  I want to develop a suggestion that he can use to slow himself down to be systematic, but other than “going slow and looking” I can’t.  And that isn’t very concrete.
 
I am working on getting him to write much neater (he used to barely look when he writes) and to focus on the page and being systematic, but it is really hard.  Any suggestions? 

 -J

Professor Homunculus’ answer:

Hi, J, 

That is a great question. I actually have a response from personal experience. I have some of the same study tendencies as your student. I didn’t really even learn any math (not even long division) until deep into my thirties. 

As I learned, I followed my progress closely, and being a magician, I tried to keep in touch with whatever my mind was doing that actually helped. 

One way to change the thinking patterns when doing math is to do your writing with your non-dominant hand. There are a lot of theories why this sometimes works, and non of them are as important as actually trying it. 

There are other ways to “trick” your brain into performing the operations less sloppily - writing backwards, speaking your answers in another language than your mother-tongue (if you know one), or writing in calligraphy come to mind right away. 

You could also read the problems in a mirror, or only do them as they are read to you, and be allowed to write the answer - you have to speak it back. 

All of these are worth a try, but none of them will be any good if your student tries them as just a “parlor trick” and doesn’t stick with them and notice any differences. As he notices them, he should write them in a notebook. 

This way he will be learning more than math - he will be learning about the personal style of his own mind - and he will be able to positively affect it. 

Let me know how it goes.