During my observation of Josie tutoring a primary school student in maths, I was impressed by the positive and supportive approach she used throughout the session. The focus of the lesson was tricks for addition, and Josie created a comfortable learning environment where the student felt encouraged to participate and have a go at each question.
One of Josie's tutoring strengths was the way she explained addition in a simple and age appropriate manner. Rather than immediately giving the student the answers, she used guiding questions to help him work through problems independently. For example, she encouraged the student to break larger numbers into smaller parts and then add them (e.g. turning 12 into 10 + 2), which helped make the questions easier to understand.
Josie also demonstrated amazing patience when the student struggled with some of the problems. She gave the student enough time to think before providing additional support and praised their effort when they made progress. I noticed that she regularly used positive reinforcement, such as telling the student they were doing well and recognising when they used a correct strategy.
Another positive aspect was Josie's ability to check the students understanding throughout the session. She asked the student to explain how they reached an answer rather than simply checking whether the answer was correct. This allowed her to identify areas where the student needed more practice.
Overall, Josie demonstrated strong communication, patience and encouragement during the tutoring session. She was well prepared annd adapted her teaching to suit the student's needs. Her approach helped the student become more confident with addition and encouraged them to work through problems independently. Josie is a really great tutor, and I observed several effective tutoring skills that would be valuable in my own future sessions, especially when working with primary school students.
