Jake started off the lesson strong by asking his student, Vani, if there has been any content at school she has found challenging. They began log problem solving by explaining the importance of knowing which log rules to start off with. After he explained, she said she finds it hard to follow along her school teacher as she feels like she is doing a question correctly but then is shown different working out. Jake made her feel reassured by asserting the importance of how doing more practise will increase her confidence. They worked through specific examples related to what she has found challenging and Jake clearly and engagingly explained the rule of changing base to log 10 and cancelling out same bases on the whiteboard. As he was explaining the questions, he asked Vani what she thinks the best thing to do is next which is a great way to keep the student on the same page and actively participating in solving the problems.
Once they reached a complex problem that the student was strugging to grasp, Jake went back to the basics of how logs are rearranged from exponents to explain the sum of logarithms, which further explained the change base rule. I think it was a great strategy how Jake is ready to start explaining concepts from the basics to drill in harder formulas and examples, making a comfortable learning envrionment for his student to easily follow along. They then went through Vina's exam notification to prepare for the exam schedule and began discussing what topics she was confident in and possible scope of questions the school might her in her exams. They also discussed exam techniques, emphasising the importance of learning the fundamental strategies of maths rather than memorisation of formulas. This is a great example of one of the benefits of private tutoring providing personalised support in exam prep that directly relates to what a student needs. Overall, it was an honour to observe Jake's Math extension lesson with Vani today and I was impressed with his clear communication as a tutor and with Vani's engagement.
