Really loved watching John work with Georgia today.
They were scheduled for a 2-hour session; John opened by asking Georgia if she had any questions about the practice trial paper she was assigned to complete most recently. I'm also a huge fan of ironing out any wrinkles from previous sessions as quickly as possible, because it allows our students to free up mental storage in order to take on new problems and content without any open loops still running in the background.
One of the problems that Georgia had with the homework paper was actually something no longer in the current syllabus - so that was a quick and easy relief!
Another question she was experiencing trouble with was, however, in the current syllabus and so John started unpacking it slowly to help her get a better understanding of it.
It was a problem involving an intricate diagram with an unknown side. John hinted that it was a trig ratio question (which was a big help for Georgia) and recommended that (with this hint) she have another go when she gets a chance.
I really liked this too - instead of handing her the answer on a silver platter, John gave Georgia the minimm effective dose of guidance to allow her to still have another good crack at the question and the opportunity to find the answer completely on her own merits.
John and Georgia began to work through a new practice paper for the remaider of the session. John's uplifting tone and empathetic tutoring style allowed Georgia to feel maximally comfortable in attempting even the hardest styles of question with little to no fear.
By feeling that she was in the care of someone who wouldn't crucify her for getting a question wrong, she had the freedom to try her best and either succeed or fail relatively quickly, allowing her to get either a reinforcing kick out of a correct answer, or super fast feedback whenever she was slightly missing the mark.
Awesome work!!
