Today I had the opportunity to observe Daniella tutor her year 7 student in maths. This was an interesting lesson to observe, especially as Daniella was covering for another tutor. It was great to see how well Daniella knew the content and how she was able to navigate through questions in a style that was understandable. In addition to this, her composure throughout the lesson was unmatched, particularly as it was her first time taking her and was not aware of this student’s strengths, weaknesses, and what they respond to. This was a very promising sign to see and I commend Daniella for this level of maturity and insight.

Further, Daniella has a very hands-on approach to her tutoring lessons and she demonstrated this by directly working through the worksheet with her student. They appeared to be working on area and volume and calculating perimeter as well. Danielle was very effective at making use of the white board to guide her student – this made it very easy for her student to follow along and remain engaged with the lesson. As a tutor Daniella has a very methodical approach to mathematics, and this, coupled with her warm and inviting nature as a tutor, clearly had a positive effect on her student. Her student appeared to be quite shy initially, which can be typical of younger students, but as the lesson progressed Daniella’s confidence and methodical approach to questions allowed her student to open up and ask many more questions, compared to the start of the lesson. This was very useful, particularly during this session as it was a public holiday and students can struggle to focus and remain engaged.

Overall, this was a great lesson to observe and I commend Daniella for her structured and optimistic approach to her lessons. Well done.

James Petrakis