Ijemaru J.

I am fun and lively, and am particularly good at motivating students who are having trouble concentrating or getting on with a subject. I am happy to tailor lessons precisely to what the student and parent require, and of course am more than willing to offer additional support via email or telephone outside of lessons.

It is a privilege to get to work with so many engaging and unique young people. It is my job to find an approach and structure to best facilitate each individual student's growth.

Sometimes a child needs a little help to catch up or at other times wants to drive on past their peers and excel. Perhaps there is a learning or behavioral problem, or perhaps there is no problem at all. I think the first thing to do is: respect the student, to take them in and to listen to them. Then it is a simple case of giving them what they need. Maybe Mathematics needs to be more fun, maybe the student needs the space and time to understand, maybe they need practice or maybe they just need some structure.

I enjoy getting to know my students and weaving their personal interests into my lessons so as to engage them.

Humour and frequent praise cannot be overemphasized and as such they are indispensable tools as well as clearly articulated learning outcomes and high expectations. My lessons often use a list of 'success criteria', 'model answers' and self and teacher evaluation of strengths and weaknesses.

I also try to encourage reflection and independent thought through targeted questioning.