John

Since graduating with a PGCE from The Institute of Education, where my dissertation was on English and literacy for neurodivergent students, I have worked for over 35 years as a Literacy and English Intervention Teacher and as a one-to-one tutor, predominantly with secondary students and young adults. I enjoy developing bespoke work which matches student interests and needs, and which develops a positive learning mindset. I aim to deliver learning in a fun and effective way which leads to the acquisition of academic skills, academic achievement, and to independence as a learner and as a person.

When thinking about perspectives and strategies for learning, it is important to bear in mind that the personality of the student is at least as important as any other consideration in building a successful programme of study, as indeed, is the quality of the learning relationship between student and tutor.

My experience of working with students with Autism, including high functioning Autism, Anxiety,  and PDA: Positive learning experiences with students with indicators of autism, anxiety and PDA begin with collaborative learning, building positive relationships, building trust, learning about the students learning style and building work with clear objectives, in a style which suits their personality and in a way which they find empowering. I consider myself to be an empathetic teacher, able to connect with students and willing to develop a truly bespoke curriculum for each student. One of the great pleasures in one-to-one work is the opportunity to develop work which builds on each student’s individual interests and creates a learning environment where students feel safe and yet which also challenges the student. Work should move at a pace which suits the young person. The student should  feel confident that the work will be interesting, set at the right level of challenge, will encourage an engagement in the wider world. The student should feel confident that they will feel stronger at the end of each session and that they will produce positive learning outcomes in each session. To minimise ambiguity or anxiety, it is important that work is scaffolded, ensuring tasks are cumulative, that instructions are clear and that tasks are broken into manageable chunks.

Successful learning experiences are the most powerful way we can change mindset, improve resilience and generate and sustain a positive outlook. A teacher, foremost, needs to be empathetic, to centre the student, to ensure that each engagement is a positive one, each lesson is scaffolded to ensure that the student understands what they must do and becomes confident that they can achieve.  The pace of lessons should match the preferred pace of the student with inbuilt opportunities to stretch and challenge, to nudge the student gently out of their comfort zone. Where possible, the starting point should be the student’s strengths and interests. The teacher should be flexible and adaptable, lessons cumulative, and should seek to build a learner’s confidence through collaborative learning. Often, the student has not realised their potential because learning is not shaped to suit their personality, interests, and ability.  A well thought out programme of study, shaped to the student’s personality and academic ability will do much to restore belief, engagement, energy and learning. My approach and strategies utilised when working with students with SEN: Each student has a unique learning profile. It is important for a teacher to start with each student’s individual skill set, to identify their strengths and preferred learning styles. Whilst it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the student’s strengths, it is important to develop their skill set, to turn weaknesses into strengths. A typical bespoke programme will identify learning gaps and will then plug those gaps, address spelling difficulties, and develop spelling strategies, students will learn how to plan their writing to suit purpose, developing expressive and receptive communication skills and develop the inferential skills needed to write about the writer’s intentions and how the reader is affected by the text. The student will also learn how to write creatively and to communicate effectively. The student’s personality, interests, and ability should shape their learning experience.  A well thought out programme of study, shaped to the student’s personality and academic ability will do much to restore belief, engagement, energy, and learning. Often students prefer to learn in different ways, using a multisensory approach which allows them to identify if different tasks are better suited to an auditory, kinaesthetic, or visual approach. Repetition, rehearsal, and revisiting are helpful. Students learn how to use colour and visualisation to aid retention. Information should be chunked, broken down into manageable parts.  It is important to match skill to task. For example, mnemonics will help students to remember tricky spelling which do not follow spelling rules, whilst acronyms with help students to remember those concepts which they need to include in the responses to particular questions.

My specialist experience teaching English to young people with dyslexia: For many years I developed and managed out of school provision funded by the borough SEN department. As well as being responsible for managing the whole provision, my specialism was teaching literacy and English.  I then became responsible for developing and delivering Key Stage 3 and GCSE support programmes for students who have EHCPs including Dyslexia. Dyslexia is complex and may involve issues relating to reading, listening, writing, and spelling. Each student has a unique learning profile. It is important for a teacher to start with each student’s individual skill set, to identify their strengths and preferred learning styles. Whilst it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the student’s strengths, it is important to develop their skill set, to turn weaknesses into strengths. A typical bespoke programme will identify learning gaps and plug those gaps, address spelling difficulties and develop spelling strategies, students will learn how to plan their writing to suit purpose, developing expressive and receptive communication skills and develop the inferential skills needed to write about the writers intentions and how the reader is affected by the text. The student will also learn how to write creatively and to communicate effectively.

As well as teaching English and Literacy for many years and being responsible for managing whole provision, I have been responsible for developing and delivering cross campus English support programmes for students at all stages of their learning journey.  Competency and confidence in English skills is the most complex and important skill a student needs to acquire and is the reason why universities prioritise achievement in English Language at GCSE level.  It is important to make learning meaningful to the students and to present tasks in ways that align with how the student understands the world. It is important to start with the students preferred learning style and to embed tasks which appeal to their strengths. Often students prefer to learn, relearn, and overlearn in different ways, using a multisensory approach which allows them to identify if different tasks are better suited to an auditory, kinaesthetic, or visual approach. Repetition, rehearsal, and revisiting can be helpful. Students learn how to use colour and visualisation to aid retention. It is important to match skill to task. For example, mnemonics will help students to remember tricky spelling which do not follow spelling rules, whilst acronyms with help students to remember those concepts which they need to include in the responses to questions whether it be creative writing responses or techniques used in writing to argue and persuade. I am familiar with the many milestones which the mark out the long pathway from Primary to GCSE, the exam requirements for major examining boards including AQA and Edexcel.  I provide students with the English skills needed to access a wider curriculum. Whilst there are specific study skills which relate to specific subskills, spelling strategies, for example, there are also wider set of study skills which related to thinking about and writing about English texts, and to exam requirements.  We are fortunate that the English examining boards have been very, very explicit in indicating how each question should be answered, and they have provided models and clear marking schemes which help students to understand texts and how to structure their responses. Once learned, the response to text approach is easily adopted to ensure success in responding to an text. Understanding how the examiners award marks is an essential skill. Using colour coded mind maps, acronyms and sentence starters will provide students with a memorable footprint for success. Fortunately, the advice from the examiners is very specific. For example, we know, for example, which four sentence starters the examiners want us to use to gain a good pass in the structure question, and we know the structural features which we can write about which will help us raise our grades turning us from being a good student, to being an exceptional student.

Experience providing fun and engaging lessons, boosting confidence: young people are curious about the world, and they want to learn. Where possible, work should be shaped by the personality of the student and their interests. Work should be shaped so that each session provides measurable positive outcomes. The task of the teacher is to structure learning in a way the student enjoys learning and which expands their horizons. Fun is fundamental to successful learning. Students, in my experience, enjoy learning where they are encouraged, where possible, to help shape content and how we study it. It is important that students see themselves as stakeholders, where they feel that a programme of study is shaped with their interests and their needs are at the centre of planning process. Topic delivery is best received when there is variety in topic, form, and outcomes. Work should be relevant, appropriate and lead to a positive learning experience in every session. Students should feel interested, confident in understanding the concepts used and confident in achieving outcomes. There should be embedded opportunities to stretch and challenge.

My skills and experience supporting students to develop their independence: My focus is to provide a positive learning experience by developing a genuinely bespoke programme of study which engages the student at a personal level, which provides the requisite underpinning skills, knowledge and understanding to help the learner become more confident and more astute as a learner and more curious about the world an as individual. It is important that the student can see learning within  a broader goal of achieving learning independence.

As well as developing English and language skills, I aim to improve verbal memory, processing speed, organisational skills and working memory skills. I seek to embed Critical Thinking Skills development. My approach builds on multi-sensory learning, and I build on student’s visual and creative skills. Recognising that different students have preferred learning styles, I work to equip students with a broad range of learning strategies, working with weaknesses as well as strengths and developing task specific strategies. I am particularly interested in developing confidence, a positive mindset and resilience . As learning progresses, students develop the critical skills needed to analyse, understand, organise and execute the requisite responses to evermore complex tasks.

My experience of working with students with dyspraxia: although dyspraxia is often associated with fine motor skills and is seen to result in physical coordination difficulties, dyspraxia can also impact on learning in several ways: listening, concentration, following instructions, taking notes, structuring work and indeed, learning new skills. It is easy for a student with dyspraxia to get lost in a classroom and struggle to catch up. The advantage of one-to-one support is that we can start at the right level of complexity for the individual student, we can make sure the work is relevant, appropriate, structured, and interesting to the individual student. Each session will show a demonstrable improvement in skill set. Dyspraxia shares many characteristics which are associated with ADHD and Dyslexia, with which there is a significant overlap. Many of the processing issues faced by students with Dyslexia and ADHD will be encountered by a student with dyspraxia. English is well suited as a site in which, scaffolded within different tasks, students with indicators of dyspraxia can learn different ways of thinking about themselves and others. Whether we think about understanding texts, similes and metaphors, writer’s intentions, or the effect of writing on the reader, we can tease out and think about ambiguity, we can make inferences about the emotional and social worlds, identify and think about the multivocal complexity in human communication and consider the human condition. Learning about English, therefore, improves communication, expressive and receptive skills, the ability to write effectively, our ability to think and feel, Cumulatively, English improves our confidence, wellbeing, and thoughtfulness.

Sometimes, it is very difficult to delineate where the processing issues often associated with one diagnosis can be distinguished from other processing issues. Consequently, teaching and learning strategies used for students with Dyslexia and ADHD will also be used whilst working with students with dyspraxia. For more information about how these dovetail, please read sections which detail respective strategies and perspectives for ADHD and Dyslexia below.

My experience as a humanities teacher: I teach humanities because I find the subject interesting and students find the subject fun.  Humanities embeds complex critical skills, and the study of humanities encourages students to be thoughtful about themselves and the world they live in. As a Humanities teacher, I aim to inspire pupils’ curiosity, I encourage students to understand more about the past, and to develop a knowledge and understanding the wider world. Whether learning about Ancient Greek gods and heroes, how Egyptians mummied a body or what you might eat with squirrel tail soup in World War 2, pupils develop critical thinking, perspective, and judgement.

A typical programme of study, shaped by student interest, will help them to know and understand chronological narrative and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world. Students will learn to make connections between themselves and the world they live in. I believe that a well delivered humanities education should give pupils a personal experience of the wider world in which they live, how it is changing, and to think about our impact upon it. Teaching should equip pupils with knowledge about diverse places and people. It should inspire in pupils a lifelong curiosity.

My experience in teaching study skills, executive functions, essay writing etc: My experience of teaching study skills and in addressing issues emergent from executive function tells me that work needs to be clearly signposted, anchored and embedded in real work skills and tasks relating to the specific targets the student is working towards. Study skills training needs to be appropriate and relevant. Whilst there are specific study skills which relate to specific subskills, spelling strategies, for example, there are also wider set of study skills which related to thinking about and writing about English texts, and to exam requirements. We are fortunate that the English examining boards have been very, very explicit in indicating how each question should be answered, and they have provided models and clear marking schemes which help students to understand texts and how to structure their responses. Once learned, the response to text approach is easily adopted to ensure success in responding to any text. Understanding how the examiners award marks is an essential skill. Using colour coded mind maps, acronyms and sentence starters will provide students with a memorable footprint for success. Fortunately, the advice from the examiners is very specific. For example, we know which four sentence starters the examiners want us to use to gain a pass in the structure question in Paper 1 and we know the structural features which we can write about which will help us raise our grades turning us from being a good student, to being an exceptional student.