Today I observed Chloe’s session with Tara, which focused on answering word problems on best-buy questions, rates and ratios. I noticed quite a few great things Chloe did in the session, and the student was comfortable and engaged throughout – not shying away when she needed help and was confident in pointing out what she was struggling with. They took on more challenging questions, going beyond the minimum to ensure she had the best understanding of ratios and wouldn’t be surprised in future tests which often consist of these harder word problem-type questions. At one point, the student showed her frustration at the fact that she knew a different method from that the question was asking her to use – and wanted to use that one instead. Chloe however ensured that she learnt the required unitary method and could confidently work out the answer, while suggesting that in an exam she could use both methods and check if her answer was correct by doing that (a very helpful tip). Using the mini whiteboards, the student displayed to Chloe her full working out which made it easier to adjust certain steps that were wrong. Even better, instead of just reading out the answer to a question, Chloe would complete her own working out while her student did too. This meant that if the student got it wrong, Chloe could consult her own working and see immediately what step in the thinking process had not been done right. Chloe also emphasised the importance of reading word problems carefully, as students missing even just a few words could entirely change their working and miss out on marks. The tutor also continuously asked what her student felt her weaknesses were, and asked for detail in describing what it was in particular that she felt was preventing her from understanding some of the rates concepts. This allowed for Chloe to utilise the session time more efficiently by targeting these areas, so that by the end of the lesson Tara would have felt more assured and confident in her knowledge. Overall it was a wonderful lesson to observe, thank you Chloe. 🙂
Sofala Vogt
