I observed an experienced tutor working with a Year 9 student in a mathematics session. This observation was particularly valuable, as it gave me insight into how sessions for older students are structured and how tutors can effectively tailor lessons to individual needs, while still following a clear plan, demonstrating how important it is to be flexible and adapt based on what the student brings to each session.

At the beginning of the session, the tutor asked the student if she had any questions or problems from her recent schoolwork that she needed help with, allowing the tutor to immediately address any confusion the student was experiencing.

Rather than following a rigid lesson plan, the tutor used the student’s own questions as a guide for the session, identifying which concepts needed further clarification and which areas the student felt confident in. This approach made the session more student-driven, which helped keep the student engaged and ensured that the lesson was relevant and meaningful to her current learning at school.

Throughout the session the tutor also effectively utilised the variety of resources provided by the tutoring centre, quickly selecting materials, such as worksheets, practice questions, and worked examples, that matched the student’s needs. This allowed the lesson to maintain a good pace, keeping the student challenged, and easily adapting when the student showed signs of struggle with a particular concept/topic and needed additional practice.

The observation showed me the importance of adapting to student needs during lessons and using available resources to support learning, making sessions more flexible, targeted, and effective.

After watching this session, I feel much more prepared to run my own lessons and see how I can adapt these strategies for the younger primary student I tutor.

Evelyn Efstathakis