I had the opportunity to observe Thomas this afternoon!
Thomas began his session by asking his student what he wanted to work on and if there was any specific topic that he had difficulty with during the week. By asking this Thomas was able to alter the session plan to his students needs, making the session more effective. His student, George, asked to work on ratios. Thomas utilised the text book and they begin working through questions together, allowing George to ask questions when he needed. Thomas answered all the questions with exceptional detail and asked prompting questions to ensure George was understanding the concepts being taught.
When George found questions difficult Thomas used the board to create simple diagrams which allowed for a deeper understanding of the concepts and assisted George in continuing to answer the questions. Thomas made sure to first explain what the question was asking by breaking it down into section, before going through each step that was necessary in solving the question. Thomas also explained what each step was doing and how it was bringing them closer to the final answer. This was done for the first few questions before George was able to work more independently.
Thomas also explained converting ratios into fractions and how they can represent the same values. George was then given some practice questions to work through.
Overall, Thomas was able to help his student understand a challenging concept by first explaining the concepts, giving questions that are challenging enough for the student to learn and finally answering the students questions with enough detail that allows the student to have a clear understanding of how to solve the question and proceed independently with confidence!
Olivia Moustakis
