Hey guys! I got the wonderful opportunity to observe Xander’s maths session.
At the beginning of the session, Xander emphasised the importance of having clear working out. Although there are no fixed rules around working out, mistakes are often made due to unclear writing or not setting out all the steps. It also makes it more difficult to check your own work and for markers to score your work if you haven’t made your thinking clear on the page. As students are often hyperfocused on the final solution and jumping ahead, I think this is a crucial thing to highlight.
The student also didn’t appear confident in his skills. Confidence can help to successfully tackle difficult questions. Xander used reinforcing positive comments throughout the session and often took time to check in with the student to see how he was feeling.
It was really nice to see the good rapport that Xander has with the student which makes the session much more enjoyable and productive.
Thanks for letting me observe such an insightful session!
Derus Kung
