Hi, I’m a person who loves to help students succeed at math.
I have been tutoring for 19 years now, having been a classroom teacher before that. In my tutoring I have worked with a wide range of students with math learning disabilities. The challenge has been exciting, and my greatest thrill is finding a new way to help a student grasp a difficult area of math.
Through tutoring I have gained the inspiration that led me to write the Parents Choice Award-Winning Algebra Survival Guide, and I continue to create new products for math education.
By checking out my blog you will get new information on teaching approaches and products that help students reach success in math.
Math Tutors, Santa Fe, NM
MathChat 
Comments on: "Meet Josh Rappaport" (16)
I’ve been following your ideas for years…and like to pass them on to the new educators in our field. Keep up the good work.
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MariaD on Mathematics 24X7 is studying Social Mathematics and has asked if anyone knows of a site where children discuss mathematics socially.
I remembered that you used to have a site for homeschoolers with a problem of the month that children would write in to and offer solutions to problems.
Do you find that children and teens discuss mathematics socially?
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Josh, I would like to talk about your work in an ongoing collection about social math. I am yet to find a good medium for “containing” this distributed conversation about “Math 2.0.” Probably podcast series would work well eventually. Meanwhile, I am keeping the collection in a slide show: http://www.naturalmath.com/index.php?option=com_jd-wp&Itemid=88888917&p=92
How can I put your network of people and activities in a slide? It is quite distributed. I can just name it “Josh Rappaport’s network” and you the node, and make a collage of your projects and sites.
– What is the “central” link you’d like me to use?
– Which 5-6 sites and projects would you feature?
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Your book, Algebra Survival Guide has helped me get through 6th and now 7th grade. Algebra is a lot easier the way you teach it in the book [Q&A], and the way you only have a few problems per lesson is really nice for someone like me. I have to learn, but I don’t need 500 problems! The board game in the back is awesome too. Just keep writing, Just keep writing…more and more math textbooks…so I can get through 8th grade too!
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When we were homeschooling years ago, you were one of our favorite resources for learning math.
Thank you so much for helping so many people all these years.
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Josh – Kudos for Equation blog solution methods. Please include ideas on solving liquid problems which play a big part in Akgebra and Chemistry.
Thank You
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hello JOSH,
I WANT ADVICE FROM YOU.I HAVE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BEING AMONGST THE GENIUS MINDS.NOW FOR THAT I M WORKING ON IMPROVING MY MATHEMATICAL SKILL, PLEASE TELL ME WHAT I SHOULD DO?
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Hello Raj. I’m not sure what to say, except keep studying. Math can help you in many ways, and it can open up doors to some of the mysteries of the world, too. I’d say you’re on the right path. Keep walking.
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I just wanted to say thank you. I had trouble finding the GCF & LCM’s, but I read your articles on how to do so, while conserving time. It helped a lot.
Thank You!
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I am currently working through your algebra survival guide, it’s amazing! I am not a math person… at all, and I’ve been through a lot of math books trying to find one that I can understand. I have finally found a book that explains things in an easy to understand way! Things that I have found extreemly frustrating and hard in other books have become easy and even fun in the algebra survival guide! Thank you so much for helping me overcome my struggles!
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I finally understand algebra. Homeschooling my kids, I came across your books, and instead of memorizing for tests, I finally “get it”. Your step-by-step approaches are helping my kids, and me, look at math in a whole new way. Thank you. I am now recommending your books to my friends.
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Hello Josh
I accidentally found you when I was searching for multiplying short cut for 25. I feel I was too late to learn from you. I also love math even though I am an English teacher.
Now I learn from you. It is so cool and we can save our time. I am sure my kids will love it too.
I will learn from you whenever I have time.
Thank you very much.
Let me follow you. ššš
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Mr Rappaport,
As a school teacher, my kids struggle with many math concepts. I recently taught a class on adding unlike fractions. Finding the LCD is not simple, as you mentioned. The traditional form is lengthy and not very easy. My principal observed me and later asked if one student struggled how could I teach it differently and possibly easier. Challenge accepted! This is how I stumbled on to your methods. In the first method, you noticed the difference yielded a clue to finding the LCM. Then I came across your next method of making the numbers into a fraction and multiplying by the reciprocal. Both are genius and super simple. Each could serve different students of varing levels of competency. If I could make a tiny modification to the second method. Write it as a fraction, reduce it, then cross multiply. This saves on explaining what a reciprocal is for another lesson. Ex LCM(6,8). 6/8 = 3/4 cross multiply 6(4)=24 and 8(3)=24 or as you put it 24/24. As a final note, thank you very much for being curious and coming up with a simple method for finding the LCM/LCD. I wish these kind of things were taught to new teachers.
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Josh, I just read your blog thread on doing math in color and work with a learner who really struggles in high school math because she sees mathematics in color and everything she receives is black and white. Coloring her math work herself is more work than trudging through the anxiety of figuring out the black and white version. Any recommendations of tools, tech that can be set to color automatically, really any recommendation to help her is so welcome. Thanks!!
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Hi. That’s an interesting question. Can you give me more info on this student? For example, does she see individual numerals with color? For example, does she view 4 as orange and 5 as green? And does she associate the different operations with color? i.e., does she view addition as blue and subtraction as purple? I would need this kind of granular detail before I could give you advice on how to help this student. At the same time, I have to caution you that, while I use color to help many students with math, I have never worked with a student who has what you seem to be describing, which I would call a neurological condition called synesthesia. Thanks, I look forward to hearing more about your student-client. ā Josh
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Yes, she actually has specific colors for addition, multiplication, exponents, etc. She has struggled with her dyslexia (mainly with producing what/how others want her to produce/achieve). She doesn’t have a diagnosis of synesthesia but all the research I’m doing to help make learning a positive thing for her adds synesthesia tools in the mix. Unfortunately I am searching and searching for ideas.
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