Ella S.

I am a 2nd-year student studying maths at the University of Bristol. I have helped multiple students over the last few years improve their grades hugely as well as build confidence in the subject. I focus on keeping my lessons interactive and exciting and encouraging discussion in lessons. This helps to build up to the harder questions and helps me into the thought process that is going on, and therefore informs the way we can approach a method or question.

I start my first meeting with a discussion about goals and aims, whether that be tackling certain topics, or a specific grade to reach. We do a Baseline test together to allow me to gather which areas need to be covered, and sometimes I go through the topics in the specification, and we Red (hard), Amber, and Green (easy) them together. This gives me a structure for the lessons ahead. Each lesson we start with discussing any problems/homework from the previous week, maybe a topic or question that came up in class at school, and go through some questions on that topic together. We then begin the lesson by going over some key knowledge and some easier questions to allow the students to draw links and get them warmed up for the topic area. Once I feel the foundation is solid, we move on to breaking down some exam questions, varying between; myself talking through my working, discussing and working through the question together, or independent work - increasing the difficulty of each question if suitable. I plan my lessons about a week before, to allow me to stay flexible, such as, if a topic needs to be revisited, or if another topic is highlighted to be weak in the previous lesson. Because I am so passionate about maths and teaching, my enthusiasm and care for the subject shine through my lessons, and I always try to vary my lesson style and make things fun and interesting.