Experienced tutor in Mathematics in Laguna Hills, Michael offers private lessons tailored to your needs.

Learn more about Michael

• 1) When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  When I was about 12 years old, my mother, knowing I was exceptionally good at math, asked if I would be interested in tutoring the daughter of a friend of hers in math for some extra money. I’m not sure how much I helped her, but I discovered I enjoyed tutoring math and conveying what I knew in a clear, concise way.

• 2) Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I provide personalized math instruction for K-12 students, college students, and adults returning to school. Specifically, I teach number sense and foundations, arithmetic and operations, pre-algebra, algebra 1 & 2, geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, and statistics. When I start working with a student, I often give them a variety of basic math problems to get a feel for their level of understanding and what they need to work on.

• 3) Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  I was blessed with good math teachers all through grade school. At the university level, not so much. There I learned how NOT to teach math. I had an especially gifted math teacher in 12th grade for AP Calculus, Mr. Larry Chunovich. He’s my gold standard for teaching math.

• 4) What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  It’s important to be able to read a student’s body language and speech patterns to see if they’re really getting something or still struggling to understand. It’s also important to quickly learn a student’s style of learning, level of confidence, and special challenges (e.g., lack of focus, test anxiety, lack of math fundamentals). Good tutors must do these things.

• 5) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  At the University of Michigan College of Engineering, I was taking an advanced calculus class during my sophomore year. The instructor was a TA (teaching assistant) who was a PhD candidate in mathematics. He was assigned by his professor to teach my class as a requirement for obtaining his PhD. On the 1st day of class, he filled the whiteboard with incomprehensible equations and theorems. He was from India and had a heavy accent no one could understand. About 20 minutes into the class, a student stood up and walked out in frustration, and then the entire class, inspired by him, stood up and walked out. The math department had no choice but to replace him with a competent instructor. This taught me the importance of taking responsibility as a student for my education and being assertive when necessary. Of course, this shouldn’t be expected from younger students.

• 6) What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  Two unfortunate trends that have developed in both public and private schools since 2000 are (1) not having a class textbook, and (2) not having the results of quizzes and tests returned to the students. Computers have their place, but there’s no substitute for a good textbook for explanations, examples, and problems to solve. I’m totally against not allowing students to take home their quiz and test results. This is a major step backward in education. How else are they going to learn from their mistakes? All through grade school and university, I was able to take my quiz and test results home. There’s no good excuse for this, and it makes my job much harder as a tutor.

• 7) Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  In addition to teaching math, I enjoy traveling to faraway, exotic places. There’s nothing I enjoy more than being suddenly immersed in a different culture in a country I’ve never visited. This past summer (2026), I visited Portugal for 17 days. Last summer (2025), I visited Morocco for 10 days, my 1st time in Africa. Both were fantastic trips.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof (besides answering this interview questions :-P)?

  After more than 25 years of tutoring math, I can usually pick up on a student’s style of learning, level of understanding, and learning challenges quickly. Doing so has become 2nd nature to me.