Jordan Mcnaught

In general, sessions are bespoke to the student’s needs. For example, maybe they’re covering a new topic in class and need an alternative explanation from me. Maybe there’s a type of exam question that always stumps them and we would spend time covering and practicing it. Maybe I notice that the student is missing a vital step in their working and we spend some time on that.
However, there are two commonalities between every session that I run:

1. We need to first identify what we’re going to work on. There’s no point in a session where I just tell students to practice random questions: we need to identify where the student is particularly struggling and only then can we move onto practice. I place a large emphasis on this step and I want to ensure that sessions are tailored to the specific person in front of me.
2. Practice, practice, practice! A teaching mentor of mine once graced me with the following analogy: “Do you think Usain Bolt became the fastest man alive by thinking about running or contemplating how he would run at some point later? No, he did it by running!” The same applies to maths and to my sessions. There is most certainly a place for discussion and understanding, however, good practice should then follow.

It's this combination of targeted practice that leads to the biggest improvements in my experience as an educator.