Observation

There were a lot of things I really appreciated regarding the way in which Jaya teaches and interacts with Jagger to get the most out of their session. Because of Jagger's young age, Jaya ensures that their session balances learning benefits whilst maintaining engagement and focus to ensure the student connects with the session. I've noticed personally that, especially with younger students, a large portion of the work required is making sure the student becomes an active agent in their own learning. That way, the burden of maintaining external motivation reduces, and their retention and grasp of the content are both improved.

For instance, they had begun the session with a light conversation and check-in to warm Jagger up for the hour to come. They then slowly transitioned to the assigned work, and I really enjoyed the way Jaya sought to administer the session. They were practicing time and reading clocks, so Jaya had provided a sheet with blank clocks that she could quickly sketch new and contrasting times on to comprehensively and flexibly assess the range of the students grasp with the topic. I especially appreciated how playful this method of teaching was, as the editable clocks invited their student to practice drawing on the clocks themself and edit their mistakes without fear of permanance or negative evaluation.

Lastly, they closed the last few minutes of their session with what their student had requested, which was a few games of Uno until the hour was finished. I thought this was so lovely to see, and indicated a very healthy dynamic between the tutor and the student; it immediately demonstrates a regulated form of external motivation that does not override the main source of agency for learning that they are trying to instil. So long as Jagger was committed and engaged throughout the session, Jaya is happy to accept his request to wind down after the lesson.