Today I observed Lucia’s maths session. She started the session by chatting to the student to make them feel comfortable and engaged. She focused on topics the student wasn’t sure about, using the white board to do example questions and then getting the student to try to test her understanding. They covered financial maths and linear equations – in particular taxes, perpendicular lines, gradients and points of intersection. She went through these topics using questions from a past paper and textbook questions. She was supportive and encouraging, and answered all the student’s questions. When she identified areas the student was stuck on, like perpendicular lines, she explained the concept in a different way until the student felt more confident. She was always patient and offered different ways to solve a question so the student could choose one that made the most sense – for example, explaining different ways of finding intersection points graphically and with algebra. She was friendly throughout the session so the student felt comfortable admitting when she was stuck or confused. When the student got a question wrong, instead of telling them the right answer she showed them where they went wrong so they could figure it out on their own, providing more and more hints until they got to the answer. She would break the question down into easier concepts the student understood, and then put it together to get the correct answer. I could see how much the student improved by the end! I learnt a lot of different ways to explain maths concepts in financial maths and linear relations by observing this session that I will use with my students. I will also try and replicate the friendly atmosphere so my students feel comfortable sharing when they need more help on a particular topic. Overall a great session!
Maya Anderson
