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One thing I have unexpectedly carried from my own time in high school into tutoring is using whiteboards. When I was doing my HSC, I found that writing things out and actually seeing the steps in front of me helped me understand maths much more than simply listening to someone explain it.
I never really thought much about it at the time, but I have ended up using the same approach with students I tutor now. I started noticing that some students would switch off when I explained something verbally. They would start looking around the room or forget what I had asked them to do almost immediately.
At first, I wondered whether they were just distracted but I realised that constantly repeating the same explanation was probably not going to help. So instead, I started using the mini whiteboard to work through examples with them. This has been particularly useful for topics like graphs where being able to physically draw something and build it step by step makes the concept much easier to follow. Rather than me talking through an entire process, the student can see each part develop in front of them. The part I find most rewarding is when I stop explaining and ask them to try the next example by themselves, and they actually can. It shows me that they understood the concept rather than just memorising what I said.
I have also realised that sometimes the best teaching strategies come from remembering what learning actually felt like as a student. My experience with the HSC has unintentionally shaped the way I tutor, and it has reminded me that explaining something well is not always about finding more words but moreso findig a better way for the student to see it.
