Steve London

My lessons start by checking in with any potential developments in learning that might need reinforcing - a new topic at school that perhaps wasn’t fully understood for example. Once I am confident this new topic has sunk in, I will return to previous topics of learning where I have assessed a gap in the pupil’s knowledge or understanding. If I am happy the pupil has no obvious holes in their foundational skills and is happy with their current topic of study, I will move beyond drill style questions to more general problem solving, in which there is not strictly one topic required, but a mixture of skills needed. Of course, if the student has something else they would prefer to work on I am always happy to offer help where it is requested, but in the absence of any specific requests my basic approach is to plug gaps, build confidence by progressively upping the difficulty and then progress to worded problems. All being well I will attempt to find or come up with questions that require knowledge across several areas, introducing an element of uncertainty or novelty to really challenge students' reasoning, as opposed to merely their memory.

I work over Zoom and/or via the Findtutors classroom platform or I can visit pupils’ houses for face to face sessions (or a mutually convenient public space like a café or library). Typically there is minimal equipment required - pen and paper and a calculator will be sufficient for 90% of sessions, and over zoom I will use the rear camera some of the time so that my working can be easily viewed on screen as I write live notes.