Dora

My experience teaching Maths

I prepare pupils for Key Stage 2 - Key Stage 4 (including GCSE) using past papers, and supplement these with interactive e-learning platforms (IXL, Corbett Maths, Maths Workout, Mathsframe, Atom Learning, etc.) that both provide feedback and teach theory.

Before a pupil’s individual learning plan for Mathematics is drawn up, their learning style (visual, auditory or kinaesthetic) must be taken into consideration. E-learning is extremely valuable in this area as it offers suitable tools for the conveying of information to students with different learning styles, at the same time bridging the various disciplines that are necessary for success in Maths.

I believe it to be vital that my students acquire information-discriminatory skills that will allow them to extract the crucial information from an instruction or word problem, and discard the rest. Also, as the ability to concentrate varies from individual to individual, it is essential that tasks should be differentiated with respect to the skills needed to perform them.

In view of the fact that some students find it challenging to solve word problems, I think it essential to boost their confidence by familiarising them with inference strategies such as the SOS (‘Simplify, Organise and Solve’) technique. This method sharpens students’ focus, enabling them to break down often verbose word problems into smaller, more ‘palatable’, components. In essence, this strategy – the so-called ‘BUCK’ technique – involves boxing (B), underlining (U) and circling (C) the crucial information, and discarding (K for ‘Knock’) whatever is unnecessary.

Other techniques I make use of are developing discipline, boosting confidence by teaching independence, and encouraging self-evaluation, self-appreciation and pleasure in learning. Short- and long-term target-setting and reviewing progress to date help students of Mathematics to understand their own learning process and develop appropriate strategies for ‘learning how to learn’. Asking a pupil to explain what they have just learnt in their own words is even more important in Maths teaching than it is in the teaching of English: doing this allows students to evaluate their performance and consciously experience their educational attainment.

My maths teaching qualifications

2013-2014: Maths GCSE Enhancement Programme, National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics, Uxbridge College, Middlesex. This qualification authorises me to prepare Key Stage 4 students for their Foundation and Higher Tier GCSE Maths exams.

My maths teaching experience

From 2011 to 2018 I taught Functional Skills Maths at all levels – both at Uxbridge College, Middlesex (2011-2015), and in an alternative provision context (2011-2018).

2012-2015: Functional Skills Maths Coordinator, Uxbridge College, Middlesex

2011-2019: 1-to-1 tuition for KS2 - KS4 (including GCSE) pupils, some of whom were SEN, at Fleet Tutors, London

2019-present: 1-to-1 tuition for 11+ and KS2 - KS4 (including GCSE) SEN pupils at SENsational Tutors, London.

Past and present pupils include students at various London schools – mainly in the independent sector – such as Kew Home School, Kensington Park School, Riverston School, Southbank International School and Sacred Heart School. I am currently providing Mathematics tuition (Functional Skills, Foundation and Higher Tier GCSEs) for the Edexcel, AQA and IGCSE Examination Boards. In addition, I have considerable experience of ISEB test preparation using techniques such as Atom Learning.

Teaching English to primary and high school students

For several years I have been helping a number of Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 high school pupils with their study skills, teaching such things as how to understand the questions they are asked to answer, how to structure essays, essay-related time management, revision skills and exam preparation.

In addition, I have been providing 1-to-1 tuition to pupils preparing for GCSE exams in English Language and English Literature who are attending a number of (mainly independent-sector) London schools – including Surbiton High School, Kew Home School, Kensington Park School, Riverston School, Southbank International School and Sacred Heart School.

I teach SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar), how to use conjunctions, and how to apply a number of compositional techniques such as varying sentence structure. I also make use of worksheets containing topic-specific vocabulary clues, synonyms and antonyms, adverbials of time and place, collocations, alternative ways of saying the same thing, ‘showing not telling’ (i.e., saying things indirectly), and conveying irony and criticism.

All these techniques improve clarity, precision and succinctness of expression, at the same time showing students various alternative ways of conveying meaning. As a result, my pupils improve their skills in every key area, have more confidence in their abilities, and  are thus able to produce well-formed pieces of writing that meet examination requirements. (In fact, they frequently surpass grade expectations.)

One of my specialities is teaching comprehension and inferring skills. My method of teaching inference is based on the following principles:

– Pupils’ answers must be supported by a statement as to the basis on which they have made their inference: what clues in the text have led them to their conclusion?

– These clues must be added to what they already know so that their understanding of the gist of the text is enhanced.

Asking students how they inferred a particular piece of information helps develop their awareness of inference mechanisms. In view of this fact, I ask them to explain the method by which they arrived at their answer in the absence of explicit information in the text. Encouraging students to point to the clues and implicit information that led them to their conclusion stimulates awareness of inference strategies, thereby increasing confidence.

Teaching creative writing is another of my specialities. Having been teaching Functional Skills English for all levels (Entry Levels 1-3 and Levels 1-2) since 2011, GCSE English Language and Literature since 2015, and English for 8+ and 11+ since 2018, I have developed a comprehensive methodology for the teaching of creative writing based on an imaginative application of literary techniques and vocabulary use.

Some of the essay-writing methods I teach when assisting high school pupils to prepare for GCSE English Language and English Literature exams are the following: PEEL (Point Evidence Explanation Link), PEACE (Point Evidence Analysis Context Evaluation) and PQA (Point Quote Analysis).

Other techniques I make use of are developing discipline, boosting confidence by teaching independence, and encouraging self-evaluation, self-appreciation and pleasure in learning. Short- and long-term target-setting (including the drawing up of daily work schedules), plus reviewing and evaluating progress to date, help students to understand their own learning process and develop appropriate strategies for ‘learning how to learn’. For instance, a pupil can be asked to explain in their own words what they have just learnt: this allows them to evaluate their performance and consciously experience their educational attainment.

My English teaching qualifications

2015: Education and Training Foundation GCSE English Enhancement Programme; this qualification authorises me to teach English for GCSE

2008: CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)

2004: BSc (Hons) in Linguistics (2.1) from the Open University

My English teaching experience

From 2011 to 2018 I taught Functional Skills English at all levels, both at Uxbridge College, Middlesex (2011-2015), and in an alternative provision context (2011-2018).

Since 2018 I have been assisting pupils who are attending a number of schools – Kensington Park School, Riverston School and Surbiton High School to name but a few – with their (Years 9-11) homework not only in English Language, English Literature and Maths (AQA, IGCSE and Excel), but also in the area of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).

Past and present pupils include students at the following institutions:

– Sacred Heart High School, Hammersmith (a Catholic secondary school and sixth form with academy status for girls);

– Surbiton High School, Surbiton (a private independent school); and

– Kew House School, Brentford (an independent co-educational secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 18).

My experience as a life coach and academic mentor

More recently, I have been acting as a life coach and academic mentor to high school students; this has involved teaching time management, organisation and revision skills, and providing additional study skills support.

Since September 2019 I have been acting as a life coach and academic mentor to a female student (Year 11) who is attending Surbiton High School. Our highly interactive sessions focus on a wide range of topics, some of these being fine-tuning her organisational skills, developing her time-management abilities, and improving the specificity and clarity of her written and oral expression. In addition, I have been teaching her revision techniques, and have also been focussing on general life skills such as interpersonal communication.

From October 2019 to April 2021 I worked with another female student who is currently in Year 11 at Sacred Heart School. My involvement began when her parents contacted me, desperately seeking my help: they told me that their daughter had neither read nor written anything at all since the previous March owing to a stress-related mental breakdown. Following a series of intensive sessions (3 hours per week) between October 2019 and July 2020 in which I employed a variety of unconventional tuition techniques – ranging from philosophical discussions to Origami – the student was so motivated to get back to school that at the beginning of September 2020 she was finally allowed to sit her Year 11 (re-entry) exams, including the Higher Tier GCSE Mathematics mock tests, passing them successfully.

English teaching to undergraduate and postgraduate students

Since 2017 I have been teaching essay planning and writing, revision techniques, exam preparation and critical thinking to undergraduate and postgraduate students. I have also been assisting students with university applications and the writing of personal statements.

In addition, since 2018 I have been helping an undergraduate student of Engineering at the University of Westminster with her essay-writing and evaluative writing skills. More recently, I have been helping a postgraduate student of Social Work at the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate student of Childhood Education at the University of Derby with their BSc and MA assignments. These activities have given me invaluable insights into the art of essay writing – on any topic whatsoever.

My own academic experience

As for my own activities in the area of academic study, having completed a PGCE / QTS course at the University of Gloucestershire in 2007, in 2018 I completed a Master of Laws degree in Human Rights at Birkbeck, University of London, graduating with a 2.1. This experience taught me a great deal about key features of academic writing such as critical thinking, internal consistency and cohesion, the importance of creating a balanced argument, and assuring academic credibility.

In September 2020 I commenced another MA programme, this time in Special and Inclusive Education at UCL; this has brought about a further refinement of my professional skills.

My specialist experience teaching children with memory difficulties

Some of the techniques I have found useful during the course of my 14 years’ experience of teaching this type of pupil are the following:

(1) Acronyms (words formed from the first letters of the words of a formula that needs to be remembered as a guideline). One example is ‘My Dear Aunt Sally’, an acronym that helps pupils remember the mathematical order of operations: ‘Multiply and Divide before you Add and Subtract.’

(2) Pegwords (words that rhyme with numbers and are used to build associations with information that is to be remembered). For example, the number 1 could be associated with the word ‘bun’, the number 2 with ‘shoe’, 3 with ‘tree’, 4 with ‘door’, 5 with ‘hive’, 6 with ‘sticks’, 7 with ‘heaven’, and so on.

(3) Keywords – words that serve as prompts, reminding the pupil of what they wish to write in each paragraph of an essay. These keywords are used to create a ‘mental map’ of the completed essay that will help pupils remember the ordering of the various subjects that are to be written about. For example, if the pupil has to write an essay on the subject of ‘Why I Love My Dog’, they can first be given the task of finding keywords that encapsulate the gist of each paragraph. Each paragraph of the essay might be on one of the following themes: (1) Adopting the dog; (2) Her breed and what she looks like; (3) Her personality; (4) How she helps us.

(4) Rhymes, poems, verses and songs that are used to help pupils remember information. Examples of this are: ‘Thirty days hath September, April, June and November …’; ‘i before e, except after c’; ‘In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.’; and ‘Zero to four – slide to the floor; Five to nine – climb the vine’ (as a way of remembering how to round numbers down or up).

(5) Chunking – grouping individual pieces of information in various ways, for example by semantic family, position in a hierarchy of importance, function, etc., in order to make them easier to remember. For instance, the individual digits 1, 9, 6 and 1 may be easier to remember as the year 1961; the digits 6, 2, 5, 4, 3, 9 and 1 might be more readily recalled as the telephone number 625-4391; and a grocery list might be more easily remembered if divided into food categories (fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and so on).

(6) Graphic organisers – visual representations that show how information can be organised, some examples being diagrams, spider diagrams, tables, graphs, flow charts and images or icons. Spider diagrams and mind maps are especially useful when grouping ideas according to their relative importance; they can thus be used to classify data or ideas.

One of my long-term students (May 2019-present) is a 21-year-old male with complex health and disability needs (including global developmental delay) whom I teach on a 1-to-1 basis, in person. Subjects taught: English and Maths (KS2-KS3), following Riverston School’s Maths and English individual learning plan specification – available on Maths Workout and Seneca Learning online platforms.

Two other students (May 2019-July 2020) were a girl in Years 7 and 8, and a boy in Years 10 and 11. In the girl’s case, the challenges (in both English and Maths) were working memory, processing speed, multi-step directions, dyslexia-type challenges and comprehension. Subjects taught: Years 7 and 8 English and Maths. In the case of the boy, the challenges – again in both English and Maths – were (very) short-term memory, handwriting, confidence and organisational skills. Subjects taught: GCSE preparation in Maths and English.

Yet another student (January-March 2020, 1.5 hours per week – 45 mins. English plus 45 mins. Maths) was a girl in Year 6 with pronounced auditory processing disorder. Her challenges were in the areas of visual-spatial reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, reading comprehension and working memory. Subjects taught: 11+ preparation (English and Maths).

My experience helping to prepare children for the new school year or term

Among a great number of many other pupils whom I have been tutoring for the last 10 years, most recently, since the beginning of July 2021, I have been preparing a Year 3 male pupil (independent sector) for the new school year.  Having examined his last year’s school report, I have devised an ILP (Individual Learning Plan) for English and Maths, which we have been carefully following, revising the topics that require consolidation.

My specialist experience working with children with anxiety

I have been working with pupils who have anxiety issues for several years: for Fleet Tutors (2011-2019) and for SENsational Tutors (2019-present).

One of my students, whom I taught online (March-July 2020, 3 hours per week – 1.5 hrs. English plus 1.5 hrs. Maths), was a 17-year-old male with complex health and disability issues that impacted his ability to attend to learning in a meaningful way. In addition to anxiety disorder, his many conditions included ADHD, autism, reactive attachment disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. He also had a medical condition (hypoplastic left heart syndrome, chromosome 15q25.2 duplication and emerging bipolar mood disorder). Subjects taught: Functional Skills English and Maths (Entry 3-Level 1), and GCSE English preparation.

Since September 2019 I have been acting as a life coach and academic mentor to a female student (Year 11) who is attending Surbiton High School. Our highly interactive sessions focus on a wide range of topics, some of these being work on her anxiety issues, fine-tuning her organisational skills, developing her time-management abilities, and improving the specificity and clarity of her written and oral expression. In addition, I have been teaching her revision techniques, and have also been focussing on general life skills such as interpersonal communication.

From October 2019 to April 2021, I worked with another female student who is currently in Year 11 at Sacred Heart School. My involvement began when her parents contacted me, desperately seeking my help: they told me that their daughter had neither read nor written anything at all since the previous March owing to a stress-related mental breakdown. Following a series of intensive sessions (3 hours per week) between October 2019 and July 2020 in which I employed a variety of unconventional anxiety-relieving techniques – ranging from philosophical discussions to Origami – the student was so motivated to get back to school that at the beginning of September 2020 she was finally allowed to sit her Year 11 (re-entry) exams, including the Higher Tier GCSE Mathematics mock tests, passing them successfully.

My experience boosting confidence and self-esteem

I acquired a great deal of experience with pupils in need of enhancement to their confidence and self-esteem both during the course of my work for SENsational Tutors, London (2019-present) and when I was teaching pupils attending Sacred Heart School (Hammersmith) and Surbiton High School. As a result of this experience, I have arrived at the following conclusions:

(1) Before pupils with low self-esteem can learn to overcome their difficulties, they often need a boost to their self-confidence. It is therefore essential to give them praise for small achievements. It should be borne in mind, however, that when the teacher praises a pupil, rather than making a general comment on how good, attentive or helpful they have been, s/he should tell the pupil, clearly and in a direct manner, exactly what they are being praised for. As examples of how this can be done, the teacher might praise ‘a neatly presented piece of work’ or ‘a precise and accurate drawing or diagram’.

(2) The teacher should always be consistent and reliable; s/he should maintain clear boundaries and ensure that the relationship with the pupil is kept on a professional footing.

(3) Lesson objectives, and the lesson plan, must be made clear from the outset. Also, simple, structured instructions must be provided in the form of a list containing numbered steps (for example, ‘1 Do X.; 2 Do Y.; 3 Do Z.’). Doing this prevents anxiety, enhances confidence and helps get things done.

(4) Providing support materials (such as worksheets containing topic-specific vocabulary clues, synonyms and antonyms, adverbials of time and place, collocations, alternative ways of saying the same thing, strategies for ‘showing not telling’ – i.e., saying things indirectly – and ways of conveying irony and criticism) help students to complete tasks independently, without the ‘threat’ of failing because they do not know some important piece of information.

(5) Presenting pupils who lack confidence with a choice between alternatives gives them a sense of control. (One should always remember, however, that the choices available are decided on by the teacher.)

(6) When beginning an activity, it is essential to go through it thoroughly beforehand in order to make sure that it has been understood. Encouraging pupils with low self-esteem to visualise an activity that is to be undertaken, or linking it to a funny action, may make tasks more palatable.

(7) The way written material is presented is of great importance. It is useful to make such material ‘user-friendly’ – for instance, by presenting it as a series of bullet points rather than as a block or blocks of text.

Another thing I have learned is that one of the most powerful strategies for boosting pupils’ confidence is to encourage them to self-reflect. I believe that they should be encouraged to develop a ‘growth mindset’: this empowers them as individuals, fosters independence, and enables them to become the best version of themselves. Therefore, during my sessions I ask my pupils to reflect on their own achievements by asking questions such as the following:

What areas are you most confident in?

How did you get to be so confident in this area?

How can the ways your confidence grew in area X help you to grow more confident in other areas?

How can you help other people to become more confident?

 

My specialist experience providing fun sessions to help students engage in learning

Having worked extensively with students diagnosed with ADD, ADHD and engagement issues (for Fleet Tutors, SENsational Tutors, Tutors Green, Pembroke Tutors and TutorSense) since 2011, I have arrived at the following conclusions:

(1) Relating to pupils as individuals rather than as ‘members of a category’ increases their confidence and motivation;

(2) Establishing positive interpersonal relationships stimulates learning;

(3) Adopting an approach that is non-confrontational and therapeutic rather than punitive ensures a more constructive outcome;

(4) Managing any disruptive behaviour in such a way as to minimise interruption to the lesson (e.g., by maintaining eye contact, using humour to defuse tension and not permitting confrontations to arise) eliminates potential time-wasting and refines the learning process;

(5) Impulsive behaviour on the part of students can be controlled by slowing down their automatic reactions and recommending a process of self-examination: the pupil can be encouraged to ask her / himself: ‘Why am I doing this?’;

(6) Working collaboratively with students’ families optimises their progress;

(7) Working in tandem with other professionals (e.g., teaching assistants, speech therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists) is essential for the provision of effective student pastoral and educational support.

Some techniques I make use of when assisting students with ADD, ADHD and engagement issues are the following:

(A) In view of the fact that students with ADD, ADHD and engagement issues may not remember lengthy oral directions, it is advisable to provide written directions that they can refer to whenever necessary. Having such directions accessible while students are completing an assignment ensures that they stay on track; in this way, they are always aware of what stage they are at in the process, and what needs to be done next.

(B) Giving only one direction at a time is helpful when teaching pupils with ADD, ADHD and engagement issues; doing this helps them focus on the task in hand, and ensures that they do not become confused. If directions are presented to them one at a time, they are more likely to act in accordance with them, and thus to successfully complete the tasks they have been given.

(C) Students with ADHD may need to be redirected from time to time as they may have engagement issues, and may not have listened to the initial directions with sufficient attention.

(D) Learning patterns in Maths makes it easier to understand and remember concepts. Mnemonics (e.g., ‘Don’t Miss Susie’s Boat’ as a way of reminding oneself how to do long division – ‘Divide, Multiply, Subtract, Bring down’) may make a significant difference.

(E) Using charts and graphs is a great way of helping pupils with ADD, ADHD and engagement issues remember the steps needed to perform complex calculations; flow charts and mind maps are especially helpful when dealing with students who have visual learning styles. Also, computers and smartboards can help students interact with revision material in different ways: using these devices can improve students’ ability to transfer items from short-term to long-term memory.

One of my students (March-July 2020, 3 hours per week – 1.5 hrs. English plus 1.5 hrs. Maths), whom I taught online, was a 17-year-old male with complex health and disability needs that impacted his ability to attend to learning in a meaningful way. His many conditions included ADHD, autism, anxiety disorder, reactive attachment disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. He also had a medical condition (hypoplastic left heart syndrome, chromosome 15q25.2 duplication and emerging bipolar mood disorder). Subjects taught: Functional Skills English and Maths (Entry 3-Level 1), and GCSE English preparation.

Another student (February-July 2019, 1.5 hours per week), whom I taught on a 1-to-1 basis, was a girl in Year 6 diagnosed with ADD and mild dyslexia / dyscalculia. Subjects and skills taught: Maths, conceptual awareness, problem-solving skills, organisational skills.

Yet another of my students (September 2018-April 2019, 15 hours per week), whom I taught on a 1-to-1 basis, was a 10-year-old girl diagnosed with many serious and complex issues such as Smith-Magenis syndrome, ADHD, microcephaly, intellectual / learning disability, significant speech and language delay, behavioural difficulties (including self-injurious behaviour and aggression towards others) and Down syndrome.

A further student (February-July 2018, 5 hours per week), whom I taught on a 1-to-1 basis, was a 14-year-old boy diagnosed with ADHD. His condition included difficulties regulating his sensory system that required him to touch and fiddle with objects; difficulties with fine motor skills that impacted his handwriting; and hypersensitivity to noise. All these things affected his ability to concentrate, resulting in a considerable level of attention deficit.

My experience of working with students with ASD (including Asperger’s) over the past six years has taught me several important lessons:

(1) Providing a structured environment and following a well-established routine is of great benefit in optimising the learning attainment of pupils with ASD;

(2) When setting up suitable learning environments for non-neurotypical students, their susceptibility to sensory stimuli (e.g., cacophonic noises, bright lights) should be taken into consideration;

(3) Acting in accordance with an awareness that individuals with autism may tend to abstain from eye contact and/or have alternative ways of expressing empathy can help build trust, thus enabling students to make better progress.

(4) Pupils with ASD often engage in ‘stimming’ (repetitive involuntary reflex actions); adopting a tolerant attitude towards these actions optimises pupils’ learning attainment.

My skills and experience supporting students to develop their independence

Developing discipline, boosting confidence by teaching independence, and encouraging self-evaluation, self-appreciation and pleasure in learning are the fundamental strategies that I teach in preparation for the high school, university and career experience. Also, short- and long-term target-setting (including the drawing up of daily work schedules), plus reviewing and evaluating progress to date, help students to understand their own learning process and develop appropriate strategies for ‘learning how to learn’. For instance, a pupil can be asked to explain in their own words what they have just learnt: this allows them to evaluate their performance and consciously experience their educational attainment.

Making the lesson objectives, and the lesson plan, clear from the outset, and breaking down structured activities into small steps that can be completed without too much – if any – help from whatever adults are in the room are some of the most important strategies to entrench independence at the heart of learning. Doing this will encourage the pupil to develop habits of responsibility in a way that is safe for her / him.

MEd (Special and Inclusive Education) {Cand}; Level 5 Diploma in Applied Financial Trading; LLM (Human Rights); 2.1; PGCE with QTS (ICT); BSc (Hons) Politics / Sociolinguistics; 2.1; BSc (Hons) in Computing; 2.1; CELTA Cambridge