Louisa Gordon

History never gets old ! I am a dedicated and enthusiastic practitioner; about my teaching practice, my subject areas, but most importantly, about the students that I teach. I strive every day to ensure that every pupil achieves and attains. My positive relationships with students are built on trust and respect and are paramount in enabling the success of my students. I set high expectations of all my students by encouraging a growth mindset in my classroom. Day-to-day I provide opportunities for students to lead their own learning, employ a range of assessment tools to check and consolidate understanding, and crucially provide students with specific feedback to help them improve, progress, and attain. It is important to continuously go the extra mile for my students, stretching them by embedding challenging extension tasks in my lessons and making them really think. I employ questioning techniques such as ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ and ‘no hands up.’
I have informal and formal tracking conversations with every pupil to give quality feedback that drives progress forward. Involving and communicating to parents/carers is hugely important and I do this by contacting them via Pastoral, by communicating in termly tracking reports, and at Parents Evenings. I ensure that any barriers to learning are removed. I work with a number of students who have additional support needs and employ strategies to ensure success is achieved by all.
I view my role as inspiring students to love learning. It is important as a teacher to think about creative and engaging ways to bring the subjects of History to life.
Furthermore, in my lessons, there is an explicit reference to transferable skills which helps benefit students in other subjects and when they are deciding on their career pathways.
My 100% pass rate for my A level and GCSE classes highlights how committed I am to the success of young people.
I have also mentored students who were considered borderline at the beginning of the academic year and who have since gone on to achieve their desired ‘A’ in their exams.
I also hold after school Supported Study Sessions, not only reviewing content and skills, but also ‘how to revise’ techniques which are just as critical. I embed retrieval practice techniques to help students commit knowledge and understanding to their long-term memory.
I am a reflective practitioner and continuously engage in professional development learning as well as discussions with colleagues to better inform my practice