Michal Borton

Learning is all about asking questions. Staying curious is a fantastic way to learn. As a child, I was so curious about everything that I would bombard my science teachers with questions until they finally told me they didn’t know the answer and had to look it up or tell me science doesn’t know yet. As a tutor, I encourage my students to ask their own questions and find their own passions.

I grew up in Lodi, CA, and moved to Elk Grove in high school. I attended Cosumnes River College before transferring to UC Davis. I originally planned on majoring in neurobiology, but I ended up studying plant biology along with chemistry coursework.

I remember struggling with math as a child because I had such a hard time with memorization. As I grew older, I stopped trying to memorize everything and taught myself instead how to figure things out. My desire to help teach students the skill I wish I had known sooner led me to pursue work as a math tutor in college. From counting to algebra, I worked with students from K-12 and gained experience teaching both individuals who excelled at math and those who struggled with it. Furthermore, I have experience working with students from a variety of backgrounds and learning differences and I find it rewarding to make learning more accessible for all students.

I believe math and science classes can be intimidating because the way classrooms are set up is not optimal for the way many students learn. I’ve found that one of the best ways to learn something is to be able to explain it to someone else, so I encourage students to explain their reasoning to me. To help students learn to guide themselves through questions, I use Socratic questioning, a form of teaching where instead of lecturing to a student, I ask prompting questions. In doing so, I encourage them to engage with the material instead of passively letting it wash over them. It also lets me guide them through a thought process and build problem solving skills and critical thinking so that they have the ability and confidence to succeed on their own.

Outside of my academic interests, I love collecting Pokémon cards, playing video games, and going on hikes and looking at the plants, mushrooms, and lichens along the trails. I am also a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.