About Deb
A math teacher who never stopped being a student
Hi — I’m Deb White. I’ve spent most of my life convinced of one thing: there’s no such person as someone who “just can’t do math.” In four decades of teaching, I never met one. What I met, over and over, was a student who missed something earlier on — and once we found it and fixed it, the whole subject changed for them.
I loved math from about the age of seven. I credit a lot of that to my family, who played games with me constantly — cards, Candyland, Sorry, anything with counting and strategy. I’m still positive that the best way to help a child succeed in math is to play games with them, and lots of them. Numbers stop being scary when they’re how you win.
I taught mathematics in California’s community colleges for forty years — everything from basic arithmetic and elementary algebra through statistics and beyond. For years I was the only math instructor at my campus, which meant I got to teach almost every student who came through, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
These days I tutor one student at a time, online. No rushed lessons, no teaching to the middle, no student left behind. Just you, me, and whatever it is that isn’t clicking yet — until it does.
Background
- B.A., Swarthmore College
- M.A. in Statistics, Stanford University
- 40 years teaching mathematics in California community colleges (College of the Redwoods and Mendocino College)
- Taught the full range — basic math and elementary algebra through statistics and beyond
- Taught Statistics every semester for decades
- Wrote her own course textbooks in statistics, algebra, and business calculus — sold to students at the cost of photocopying rather than let them pay hundreds for material she could write better herself
- Ran weekly student math contests for the pleasure of students who loved the subject
How I work
Three things every student I tutor can count on.
Find the gap, fill the gap
Almost every student who's struggling with new material is missing a piece from earlier — and they usually don't know which piece. My first job is always to find it. Do they sound hesitant on a certain step? Making the same small mistake again and again? That's the thread I pull.
Mistakes are how it works
You usually have to make all the mistakes before you get a problem right. So when a student tries an approach that doesn't pan out, I praise them for thinking to try it. That's not just kindness — it's how the learning actually happens. The student who's afraid to be wrong is the student who can't move.
Praise comes first, always
So many students arrive having had a discouraging time in math. Before anything else, my job is to help them believe they can succeed — because most of them already can, they just don't know it yet.
“Everything I have learned, I learned by teaching it. The first time I taught Statistics, I’d forgotten what a standard deviation was — I kid you not. I spent years making that course something students could actually use.”
— Deb White
Let’s find your student’s gap together
A free 15-minute intro call, just to talk. No commitment, no pressure — I’ll get a feel for where things stand and where to start.