Today, I had the opportunity to observe Demetria tutor her year 11 student in English. I immediately noticed Demetria’s competent tutoring ability through the way that she described, analysed, and reflected on language choices. They appeared to be working through a reflective writing task for an upcoming assessment. There were a few positive things that Demetria did that caught my attention. Firstly, she spoke with vigour throughout her lesson. Demetria is clearly quite confident at tutoring English and has a sound understanding of the HSC syllabus and associated modules. As a tutor it is important to constantly revise topics and syllabus’ in order to be able to deliver effective learning to our students. This ‘effective learning’ can also come in the form of confidence when teaching, which makes students more engaged and trusting.

Secondly, Demetria asked a lot of introspective questions. Though this may seem overly sophisticated for a year 11 student, Demetria had the right idea as the Band 6 students often possess a unique ability to reflect and comment on their language choices, purpose of their reflective piece, and external influences or forms of inspiration. Further, Demetria often encouraged her student to use their own brain as opposed to looking for an answer that they had not yet memorised. This is an effective method of learning as it strengthens active recall – a trait that is especially required in a subject such as English. Although English does permit memorisation, it is important to be fluid and adaptable as opposed to solely relying on a rigid structure with minimal leeway. Demetria mitigated this through reinforcing the important of structure in reflective and analytical writing. In this way, she assisted her student by refining their structure and making sure that they understood the changes that she was making to the specific body paragraphs. Well done Demetria.

James Petrakis