Math Tutoring with Joel Rosenberg

I was lucky enough to have Joel tutor me for my entire high school experience. I always looked forward to my weekly Tuesday tutoring session with Joel. His love and passion for mathematics rubbed off on me and taught me that math can be fun too. In our sessions I'd have captivating debates with Joel as to how to best go about solving a certain problem. From these discussions, Joel taught me that there was always more than one way to approach and solve a problem. Finally, what made Joel such a phenomenal tutor, is that he deeply cares about his student’s lives outside of the tutoring sessions. He cares about you as a person and is genuinely interested about how you are doing and feeling.

Joel was the best tutor I could’ve asked for.  He tutored me for about 6-7 years (from middle school through high school) and also tutored two of my siblings.  I don’t think I would’ve passed Geometry, Pre-Calc, or Algebra without his support and constant help! He was (and still is) always willing to help his students whether it be in person during a tutoring session, on the phone, on FaceTime, or through email. He is also still a resource, mentor, and friend to me, even years later. I remember him making himself available, pretty much any hour of the day, in order to answer questions and help his students with problems they came across even if it was super early or late in the day (and definitely not during his working hours). Joel not only strives for his student’s success in the classroom but, also out of it. He knows his material, and if he doesn’t, he’ll do his best to learn it in order to teach you, is highly experienced, super professional and smart, and an all-around super nice, supportive, and thoughtful tutor. If I know anyone looking for a tutor I  would recommend him 100%. 

Joel works wonders when it comes to supporting students in learning higher-level math. Joel guided me through a very difficult, accelerated Calculus class during the first semester of my freshman year of college. While his knowledge of the subject was second to none, his constant encouragement and support throughout my time working with him is what separates Joel from any other tutor I have worked with. In spite of being in different parts of the country, Joel made our time together extremely worthwhile and never let me leave our sessions without a firm understanding of the subject at hand. I would recommend Joel to anyone who is searching for help with math.

Joel was my math tutor for 6+ years and I gained the fundamentals needed to succeed in all of my math classes. Joel not only wants you to learn the material, he wants you to "learn how to learn". What makes Joel special is his ability to teach how to utilize these lessons outside of the classroom. With every student, he truly believes in their ability to succeed. Beyond wanting to see his students succeed, he wants his students to use these same skills through college and beyond. Without Joel, I would have never had the confidence in math that I have.  As a result, I'm thriving in multiple math classes at UCLA! I owe a lot to him as not only a tutor but as a life coach.

To find a tutor who will listen, teach, adapt, and respond instantaneously has proved a rare and incredible experience as someone who struggles to understand math. Joel is not only brilliant, persevering, versatile, and dedicated to his field, but has easily one of the warmest and most easy-going spirits I know. He cares deeply about the comprehension of each and every one of his students as well as their overall wellbeing. It’s impossible to recall a time in which he was unwilling to help in any capacity. Personally, I cannot wait to continue working with him for my next two years of high school.

Before I met him, I was terrified of having Joel as a tutor, or having any tutor for that matter. I had very little self-esteem in terms of academics. I was feeling like something of a failure, having never really paid attention or done the work for my 8th grade math class. However, almost as soon as Joel started working with me it became clear that he was the perfect tutor for me. Joel is disarming and comforting in such an inescapably potent way. Not to be blunt, but he's pretty old. This turns out to be one of the great things about him though, no matter how crazy or disappointed I felt, he's seen it all before. Nothing can shock or deter him. It was because of this comfort I felt with him that I was immediately able to engage myself with his tutoring and with the math I was supposed to be learning. 

Also, I said earlier "not to be blunt," but to be completely and totally blunt, he's a wacky old man and I've told that to his face and he knows it. Over the years that he's been tutoring me, Joel and I have developed a strong and really comfortable relationship with one another; I'll rub it in his face the few times I notice something he did incorrectly and he'll jokingly jab at me about my attitude. From the second I met him Joel has been open and inviting, actively working to not only help me with math but also to have a real connection with me. He'll take time after our tutoring sessions to ask me how I'm doing, to insist on having me showing him my newest art, and to enthuse about his Peloton. I started off my time with Joel reticent and terrified of math, but after my time with him I ended up actually (albeit reluctantly) admitting that I'd learned to enjoy it, and actively looked forward to all my meetings with him.

Before I met him, I was terrified of having Joel as a tutor, or having any tutor for that matter. I had very little self esteem in terms of academics. I was feeling like something of a failure, having never really paid attention or done the work for my 8th grade math class. However, almost as soon as Joel started working with me it became clear that he was the perfect tutor for me. Joel is disarming and comforting in such an inescapably potent way. Not to be blunt, but he's pretty old. This turns out to be one of the great things about him though, no matter how crazy disappointing I felt, he's seen it all before. Nothing can shock or deter him. It was because of this comfort I felt with him that I was immediately able to engage myself with his tutoring and with the math I was supposed to be learning. Also, I said earlier "not to be blunt," but to be completely and totally blunt, he's a wacky old man and I've told that to his face and he knows it. Over the years that he's been tutoring me, Joel and I have developed a strong and really comfortable relationship with one another; I'll rub it in his face the few times I notice something he did incorrectly and he'll jokingly jab at me about my attitude. From the second I met him, Joel has been open and inviting, actively working to not only help me with math but also to have a real connection with me. He'll take time after our tutoring sessions to ask me how I'm doing, to insist on having me showing him my newest art, and to enthuse about his Peloton. I started off my time with Joel reticent and terrified of math, but after my time with him I ended up actually (albeit reluctantly) admitting that I'd learned to enjoy it, and actively looked forward to all my meetings with him. 

Knowing Joel would be at my house every Tuesday was not only comforting because I knew that at the end of the session I’d learn all of the concepts needed to do my math homework on my own, but also because it was important for me to have a mentor throughout high school that knew me and my learning style very well. What I loved most about Joel’s tutoring was that it was less about completing a certain homework assignment or studying for a specific test, and more about building problem solving skills that I could use even in my non-math classes. When Joel first started tutoring me we realized that my biggest challenge was solving new styles of problems that would appear on tests that were a lot different than the homework. So, on practice tests Joel would always have me talk through what I would do instead of telling me how to do it, and together we came up with some strategies to help get started on new problems, like drawing diagrams and using all of the given information. Even now during every college math test, I draw a diagram and write out all given values and equations for each problem like Joel would always tell me to do, which helps me tackle questions I have never seen before. 

Joel was the best tutor I could’ve asked for.  He tutored me for about 6-7 years (from middle school through high school) and also tutored two of my siblings.  I don’t think I would’ve passed Geometry, Pre-Calc, or Algebra without his support and constant help! He was (and still is) always willing to help his students whether it be in person during a tutoring session, on the phone, on FaceTime, or through email. He is also still a resource, mentor, and friend to me, even years later. I remember him making himself available, pretty much any hour of the day, in order to answer questions and help his students with problems they came across even if it was super early or late in the day (and definitely not during his working hours). Joel not only strives for his student’s success in the classroom but, also out of it. He knows his material, and if he doesn’t, he’ll do his best to learn it in order to teach you, is highly experienced, super professional and smart, and an all-around super nice, supportive, and thoughtful tutor. If I know anyone looking for a tutor I  would recommend him 100%. 

It is easy to see when working with Joel, that he genuinely cares about you and your success. He doesn't only teach you how to solve problems, but also shows you all the math behind it and why it works. He helps you build a deeper understanding of math, which consistently shows itself in and out of the classroom.

For me, the best thing about working with Joel, was having someone to talk through problems with, who really understood the mechanics and methods behind the math. He helped me go from a low-C grade to getting a 5 on the AP Calculus exam. 

Joel is well informed, supportive, helpful and will guide you to where you need to be in order to succeed in math.

My daughter has been working with Joel over the past four years. He is not only a very caring and thoughtful tutor, he is one of the most caring and thoughtful human beings I've ever met. For example, he makes it clear that students can reach out to him at any time for help, if they are simply struggling with one homework problem or totally nervous about a test. Another very concrete example occurred when my daughter was really struggling on tests in 8th grade. She seemed to understand the material going in but then had a hard time on the tests. The teacher would not release the tests for Joel and my daughter to review. So Joel went to visit the teacher at school to take notes on the trouble spots to discuss with my daughter. He really goes above and beyond on in so many levels!

Joel was able to step in on an urgent basis and assist our high school senior at Paly at the end of his first Calculus AB semester.  Our senior was having challenges and really needed some extra assistance.  Joel came to the rescue and offered multiple sessions of his time in the last two weeks of the semester leading up to the finals, which helped our senior out tremendously.  He rapidly developed a trusting rapport with our student and is immensely competent to provide guidance across all levels of high school math.  Joel and our senior took that trusted relationship into regular weekly sessions throughout his second semester, and finally on to the Calculus AB AP Test, where our senior performed very, very well.  We can't thank Joel enough for his urgent and very helpful support in our time of need, and more importantly, for the longer term relationship with our student, and the tutoring value Joel brought him.  We could not have been more pleased with his guidance and support.

I am beyond impressed with Joel Rosenberg’s tutoring service as I have three children and have experienced a range of tutors.  My daughter who describes herself as “not a math person” found the skills and confidence through Joel’s warm approach and insightful ways as he approached their sessions. She was able to soar through her semesters with great results and she realized that she is in fact a “a math person”.  Do not hesitate to hire Joel. We all look forward to his warmth when he walks in our door.

Joel was integral to the success my daughter had in Math this year at Palo Alto High School.  Unfortunately, she had dug herself a large hole in Semester 1 and was terribly far behind – not simply on the assignments, but much more importantly on knowledge.  We explained the situation to Joel and he immediately accepted the responsibility of guiding my daughter through Semester 2.  WOW!  Did he ever!  From the first introductory lesson, Joel built rapport with and convinced my daughter she could succeed.  In this way, Joel not only was a tutor, but also a mentor.  Over the next three months, Joel worked tirelessly as a teacher and also became a friend.  He brought structure to my daughter’s learning and did so with humor and compassion.  He was forceful when he had to be, but focused on engendering confidence such that my daughter could regain a degree of footing on her own.  Joel cares deeply about his students.  He is passionate about instilling good learning models and habits.  He firmly believes success comes through both competence and confidence.  He works magic!

Joel is a gem of a person, with a wisdom for understanding young people and providing educational techniques that any parent would value.  He has been tutoring our middle-school son for 3 years while simultaneously and gracefully mentoring him.  We hired Joel not because our son was struggling but because he was unchallenged, and now he is prepared for advanced high school math!  We should all strive to surround our kids with role models like Joel: a thoughtful, kind, naturally intellectual teacher. 

We wholeheartedly and passionately recommend Joel to help your student not only to learn math, but to gain confidence while doing so.

Joel most certainly helped our daughter, but he also helped our family!  Before Joel, Scott spent hours trying to help our 9th grader master math fundamentals.  She had always done well in math, but when she entered high school, the concepts became more complex.  Sitting down with dad made it too easy to say “I can’t do this!”  Once Joel came to our house once per week, the struggles disappeared.  Dad was “off the hook,” Joel calmly and confidently worked in tandem with the high school curriculum, and our daughter began to relax and do well – and then really well.

Joel is not only a gifted teacher, but an amazing human being who genuinely enjoys working with young people and cares about their success.  He meets them “where they are” and gets to know them as individuals.  His teaching focuses on the sequential concepts the kids are learning in the classroom and fosters confidence by building a body of knowledge.  He worked with our daughter for three years in high school, and she went on to confidently succeeded in upper division math courses in college.

Joel has found his calling in teaching, and the kids he tutors benefit from his passion immensely.  And their families too! 

We wholeheartedly and passionately recommend Joel to help your student not only to learn math, but to gain confidence while doing so.

Joel most certainly helped our daughter, but he also helped our family!  Before Joel, Scott spent hours trying to help our 9th grader master math fundamentals.  She had always done well in math, but when she entered high school, the concepts became more complex.  Sitting down with dad made it too easy to say “I can’t do this!”  Once Joel came to our house once per week, the struggles disappeared.  Dad was “off the hook,” Joel calmly and confidently worked in tandem with the high school curriculum, and our daughter began to relax and do well – and then really well.

Joel is not only a gifted teacher, but an amazing human being who genuinely enjoys working with young people and cares about their success.  He meets them “where they are” and gets to know them as individuals.  His teaching focuses on the sequential concepts the kids are learning in the classroom and fosters confidence by building a body of knowledge.  He worked with our daughter for three years in high school, and she went on to confidently succeeded in upper division math courses in college.

Joel has found his calling in teaching, and the kids he tutors benefit from his passion immensely.  And their families too! 

Joel was more than a math tutor to my son. He was a co-conspirator. Listening to their weekly session, I heard laughter, debate, and new ideas bubbling up from them both as they wrestled tough calculus problems to the ground. Who knew math could become so engaging and fun? My son told me that his time with Joel was a highlight of his week. Joel was undoubtedly the best tutor we ever had hands down and he was a mentor and friend.

As a parent, the sooner you start your child working with Joel the better.  Why?  You can build on math fundamentals and when he/she struggles -- which they will at some point -- they'll see their struggle as a learning opportunity.  Your child will learn to build confidence, perseverance, and know it's ok to ask for help.  My son has learned from his mistakes by working with Joel and it's music to my ears when I hear "oh yeah, that's what I did wrong" and move on.  

Joel is lovingly honest.  If your child doesn't know something, he'll take a few steps back so they understand the fundamentals before picking back up on the homework at hand.  He doesn't rush, and makes sure your child understands a concept before moving on.  Joel works with parents on the tough conversation of PAUSD "math lanes", with the goal of keeping your child challenged but not overwhelmed.  He makes and keeps appointments and is unfailingly on-time - this integrity will be passed on to your kids.

Joel is available to both parents and kids.  He values and builds a relationship with your family and child - many of his students work with him from 6th to 12th grade and stay connected through college and grad school.  My rather shy son knows that he can reach out to Joel before a test or quiz and he'll be there to help him.  More importantly, my son will wrestle with a problem until he's stuck and then reach out to Joel, having learned about grit and integrity by working together.

We're thrilled that our son can work with Joel through Senior year and beyond!

Joel has been working with the children in my family since 2010.  We have three very different children who have all benefitted greatly from working with Joel.  He is extraordinarily dedicated to his students and never misses tutor sessions.  Joel encourages students to communicate with him via text, phone calls etc.  He attended several parent meetings with us when we were concerned about our child’s progress in Math.  He actively contributed and asked questions throughout the meetings. 

Joel is organized and very straightforward in his approach.  He communicates with parents ahead of time about his fees, billing cycle, meeting time and expectations of students.  He comes to the sessions on time and well prepared.  

Joel takes a whole-child approach to teaching his students. He has a solid understanding of the growth mindset ideology and uses it throughout his sessions with students.  He meets them where they are developmentally, gets to know them beyond math, and challenges them to move to the next step. He is thoughtful and kind when interacting with both students and parents and goes the extra mile by attending games and activities.

Joel worked with our three daughters from the time they were in middle school until graduating from high school.  They needed some help in middle school; and Joel was a fantastic tutor - encouraging, patient, thoughtful, and my girls loved working with him.  Joel was such a positive and enjoyable addition to our girls' lives, that we decided to have him continue coming to our house on a regular basis.  From pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, calculus, AP exams - Joel was there for them whenever they needed help.  We feel very fortunate to have had Joel as part of our village in raising our kids.

Joel is genuinely invested in our kids.  He has taken the time to find each child’s unique learning style and works with them based on that.  He is always available for last minute math questions and is always flexible, whether it’s switching days in order to prepare for a math test, or tutoring via Zoom during Covid19.  As parents, we love having Joel in our lives and feel he has really enriched the lives of our children.

Joel tutored all three of our children starting in middle school through high school (and SAT prep) and has helped all of them immensely. Joel has a real passion for teaching young people, always willing to go above and beyond to make sure his students understand and learn the material. Joel made himself available almost any time via internet, phone or in person to work through difficult problems when needed. As a parent, having Joel tutor our kids was such a source of confidence and calm. He took responsibility for staying on top of the math assignments and making sure the kids were on track with their

assignments and tests. As a parent, I was able to relax and play more of a supportive role when it came to math. Not only did Joel pay attention and care about our children’s school work, but he was also interested in them as individuals, providing support and inspiration in their personal growth. In addition to being very knowledgeable about all

levels of math, Joel is just an all-around wonderful human being. He is very smart, kind, persistent, committed and fun! He was wonderful to work with, and both myself and the kids forged a strong connection. We continue to keep in touch many years later. We highly recommend Joel

as the best tutor you could hope for.

Joel is really skilled at both the math content and excellent teaching techniques. What's even more important is how he connected with our daughters and his intuitive sense of what each daughter was truly understanding about the material. These additional soft skills helped Joel make a very real impact and created real results in our daughter's AP math journeys. The results could not have been better and I credit Joel's broad range of math and social skills with those results.

Joel is patient, kind, flexible and knows math. He gave our son an appreciation and love of math. We watched our child's confidence grow in his mathematical ability. Joel has a way of guiding students to figure out the answer without feeling pressured. 

He was a joy to have in our house. He was always on time and yet willing to be flexible with scheduling if our child had a conflict or illness. We will miss seeing Joel every week.

Joel has allowed all our kids to flourish at math which has given them great confidence in all their schoolwork.  He’s become part of the family and the kids actually look forward to Joel time. 

Joel is the best thing that happened for two of my children’s high school math at Palo Alto HS. His tutoring goes far beyond just mastering the subject matter. He really helped them learn to manage their workload, take responsibility and be accountable for their successes and failures. Joel is a life coach who also happens to be an incredible math teacher.

We can’t recommend Joel more highly. Our son started with him in 9th grade and Joel worked with him through graduation from Paly. We had tried other “professionals” but our son really didn’t seem to stay focused with them. I remember the first time David and Joel met. Joel said that he should come to the door when he arrived and take him to the door when he left. I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. But for the next 4 years that is exactly what David did. David did not become an “A" student in math but did very well. Joel instilled confidence in David and so he did not experience the frustration that he had experienced in math in Junior High.  I truly believe that David actually looked forward to seeing Joel every week. The greatest thing about how Joel teaches is, that he also talks about things that the student is interested in during the sessions, not just math. After 4 years Joel became part of our family and we consider him a good friend now.