Vanessa Gwenin

I am a Science teacher (QTS) currently teaching in a secondary school in North Wales, UK. I embarked on a teaching career after 12 years in research as a Biochemist where my research contributed to 4 patents and a spin-out company. I home-schooled my own children for a few years, taught English as a foreign language online for 3 years and overall, I have 19 years of tutoring experience of primary school, secondary school, university and PhD students.

After all this experience, the most valuable insight for me was recognising just how different we all are in the way we learn, what motivates us, what intrigues us and our longing for acceptance and recognition. Hence, a positive relationship between a student and tutor is vital for success.

My first lesson is a free introductory lesson in which we meet each other’s acquaintance and look at goal setting and timelines, and quite simply, whether we get on.

Generally, I follow Rosenshein’s principles for instruction, which includes introducing new material in a fun or relevant manner, providing models, working through examples, after which students try to apply new knowledge through directed tasks and I provide feedback before we progress. This could all happen in a single lesson, or depending on the level of difficulty, could cover a few lessons before moving onto the next topic. I love questioning and stimulating critical thinking, because I believe that knowledge without application, just remains, knowledge. But being able to use that knowledge or new skill, is power and changes lives.

I hope I can help you change yours so that you can reach the goals you have set and achieve the best you can be.