Today I observed Annaliese’s tutoring session!
During my observation of Annaliese teaching trigonometry to a Year 10 student, I was so impressed by her ability to simplify the complex concepts and maintain the student’s focus. She started the session by reviewing Pythagoras theorem, and shape angle sum and then introduced the key trig ratios – she did this to ensure the student had a solid understanding of their definitions and triangles and when to apply them. Annaliese used real-world examples, e.g measuring the height of a building using angles, to make the content relatable and less abstract. This method definitely captured the student’s interest but also helped make the formulas make sense.
Another part of Annaliese’s lesson, was teaching her student how to use the trigonometry buttons (sin/cos/tan, and inverse trig ) on the calculator. She broke down each step of the calculation process, guiding the student through pressing the correct buttons, and showing how to save the results using the ANS button. This hands-on approach allowed the student to gain confidence in using the calculator (which can be confusing) and made them comfortable as Annaliese worked through them with her. She provided lots of practice opportunities, where they worked through questions together, but also let the student try on their own. She corrected any mistakes without discouraging the student, and used positive reinforcement to keep them motivated. She started with easier questions, to build foundations and confidence and then moved on to more complex questions after that!
Annaliese’s teaching style was very structured but also flexible to suit the pace of the student. She regularly asked the student to explain concepts in their own words, and show how they did their working out (even it it was wrong) to understand what was going wrong/how they could fix it.
Shyla Gloster
