Rachael Burton

In my tutoring sessions I like to include a combination of interactive and written tasks to help you to develop a range of literacy skills. Discussion and debate is at the heart of English literature and I try to draw on that as much as possible in my lessons. I also include extended questions and timed practice to get students used to the rigor of the examinations as this is crucial in securing top end results.

Usually I will present students with a PowerPoint which focuses on a central theme or character from whichever text we are focusing on. I will start with a discussion piece or a thought exercise to introduce the topic of the lesson (this may draw from visual sources such as images or videos). I then encourage students to share any ideas - I use this time to help develop, challenge and prompt deeper critical thinking around the issue before we tackle any of the source material.

This is typically then followed by close examination of an exert or section of the chosen text - I like to give my students plenty of opportunities to unpick and analyse key examples. Dependent on the level of need I might include some guided questions or model interpretations. This will then feed in to a chosen exam question. Where possible any exam questions will be taken from the same exam board that the student is being examined by. This section of the lesson then focuses on what the question is asking of you, what a top level response looks like and plenty of time for students to attempt the question themselves.

I also like to include as much feedback as I can throughout lessons and encourage students to ask questions of their own.