First Education

Hey everyone, today I had the great opportunity to observe Kate.

It was great to see how friendly her student was and how well they got along. It was great to see how her student was very comfortable with Kate ! They had a great relationship and they got along really well.

They started by going through her students common mod assessment task. They looked at the notification and started going through the work her student had done so far. They worked on edifying her students work and making sure her essay aligned with the task notification. They went through the common mod syllabus to make sure she was using syllabus words throughout the essay. They then started to plan what she would need to do to finish the assessment task.

They worked through any questions her student had. They also went through her students homework from last session, which was to work on the essay.

It was great to hear Kate’s explanation of the text and her advice. Her explanation was very clear and detailed. She also made sure her student stayed focused and engaged with the topic for the whole session. When her student got distracted, she would guide her back on track.

It was great to see how engaged Kate’s student was. Kate’s student was doing a great job answering all of her questions. When her student got stuck, Kate for a great job explaining to her why the sentences didn’t flow properly or make sense.

Kate did a great job helping her student pick appropriate quotes and techniques. She would ask her student to determine wha technique the quote uses and the to analyse the impact of the technique. If her student needed help, Kate would do a great job explaining it to her student so that she could understand how to apply a technique and to analyse it herself.

Overall, Kate did a great job helping her student. It was a great session and such a pleasure to observe. Keep it up!

Ashley Cohen

Tutoring Year 10 English involves guiding students through a crucial stage in their academic development, where analytical thinking, independent learning, and effective communication begin to take centre stage. At this level, students are expected to engage more deeply with texts, exploring complex themes, language techniques, and contextual influences. A tutor’s role is to help them build the confidence and skills needed to meet these expectations while fostering a genuine appreciation for literature and purposeful writing.
One of the most valuable aspects of tutoring Year 10 English is supporting students in developing strong analytical reading skills. Many students can identify techniques, but they often struggle to explain how these techniques shape meaning. Through modelling detailed responses, breaking down exemplar paragraphs, and guiding students to form clear, well-supported interpretations, a tutor can help them progress from simple observations to sophisticated analysis. Close reading exercises, scaffolded questions, and discussions about authorial intent all contribute to strengthening these skills.
Writing is another key component at this level, and tutoring provides an opportunity to refine a student’s ability to produce coherent, compelling work across a range of forms. Whether crafting analytical essays, persuasive speeches, or creative pieces, students benefit from learning how to structure their ideas logically, vary their language choices, and edit their work effectively. Focused feedback, practise with planning, and targeted skill-building—such as improving thesis statements or sharpening vocabulary—can dramatically improve a student’s written expression.
Equally important is helping students prepare for assessments. Many Year 10 students feel overwhelmed by exam-style questions or timed writing tasks. A tutor can ease this pressure by teaching strategies for unpacking questions, planning under time constraints, and approaching tasks with clarity and confidence.
Ultimately, tutoring Year 10 English is about more than improving grades. It’s about equipping students with the critical thinking, communication skills, and self-belief that will support them not only in senior English but throughout their academic journey.

Angelique Lambrinos

Math can sometimes feel like a huge challenge for young learners, which can lead to frustration, lack of motivation and overall not attempting to the work or questions,. However, with the right approach, it can become an exciting and enjoyable subject! Here are some strategies I’ve discovered that work well for making math fun for Year 2 students:

1. Maths based Games: Board and card games are excellent tools for introducing mathematical concepts like addition, subtraction, and multiplication in a fun, engaging way. For example, using UNO cards to demonstrate addition or subtraction can help students understand the concepts through play which can the be reciprocated into worksheet problems.

2. Hands-On Learning: Using everyday objects such as coins, highlighters, or stamps helps children visualise math problems. For instance, when a student struggled to understand counting money, we used real coins instead of pictures on worksheets. This hands-on approach made it much clearer, and the student was able to grasp the concept more easily before returning to the worksheets.

3. Story Problems: Turning math problems into stories that incorporate the student’s interests or hobbies makes them feel more relevant and fun. For example: “Cathy uses 3 grams of butter to make 9 cookies. How many cookies can she make if she uses 12 grams of butter?” Story problems like this help Year 2 students see math as an adventure, and can even be used as a tool to help students create their own questions and solve them.

4. Using Whiteboards: Many students enjoy the interactive nature of whiteboards. Using different colors and allowing students to come up to the board to answer questions boosts their motivation and encourages them to engage more with the material.

Daniella Antoun

Today, I got to watch Pamela work with her kindergarten student (Luis) during their phonics session!! It was really enjoyable to watch. Luis had a lot of energy from the start; he moved around, talked about his day at school, and lost focus really easily. Despite this, Pamela stayed calm, warm and patient the entire time.

She handled his energy in a super accommodating way. When he drifted off, she gently brought him back with simple and playful cues. She said things like “let’s jump to the next sound” or “show me this letter with your hands!” These little prompts worked really well in keeping Luis involved without making him feel pressured.

Pamela introduced every letter and sound clearly. Her tone was inviting and friendly; she endearingly celebrated every answer Luis gave. She praised his effort, even when the answer was not correct and then guided him (step by step) to the correct one. Luis responded very positively to this as well. He smiled often and returned to the activity on his own, each time he started to wander.

I also noticed how flexible Pamela was!! She altered her strategy whenever Luis needed something different. When he seemed too restless, she added a quick UNO break. When he showed interest, she slowed down and let him explore the sounds a bit more. She matched his energy the entire time, keeping the lesson fun, productive and steady.

Pamela never seemed frustrated. She spoke kindly and with encouragement in every moment. Because of that, Luis stayed comfortable and engaged. He looked like he was having a ball of a time while still learning a bunch.

Overall, I was really impressed with Pamela’s skill as a tutor. She managed a very energetic child with patience, creativity and joy. She kept him focused, feeling supported and excited about learning his letters and sounds. It was a truly warm and positive session to watch!!

Thanks Pamela 😀

Thomas Koutavas

Taking effective and understandable notes can make a significant difference in your understanding of the topics that you learn throughout the year when it comes time to revise for exams. Having a clear layout allows you to quickly digest the information in a way that is specific to how you learn. It is important to try different techniques so that you are able to learn which way works best for you.

1- Using colours
Having bright colours throughout your notes helps important titles and specific terms to stand out, helping you to see what you need to easily. For example, having specific colours for titles, definitions, statistics and info that you forget makes your note taking more structured. Colours also makes your notes nicer to look at (not that it is all about aesthetics), which encourages you to look over the information with more care and interest.

2- Cornell method
The Cornell note taking method divides your page into three sections:
– Notes – main content from class, this should take up the majority of the page
– Key ideas- this should contain any definitions, simple but important content or any questions you have. This section should be on the left hand side in a large margin.
– Summary- contain the main takeaways from that lesson in 1-2 sentences at the bottom of the page
Doing this method each afternoon after a lesson ensures you are revising the content after first learning, which is the first step towards memorisation.

3- The Feynman Technique
This is a technique that makes sure that you fully understand a topic and can apply this when it comes to exams. It works through these steps:
1. Write the concept at the top of the page
2. Explain it as if teaching a younger student
3. Identify gaps or confusing parts
4. Simplify it even further
By doing this, it easily identifies any gaps in knowledge and grasp the most important parts of the content.

Maddie Manins

Most students think that their biggest problem when studying and learning is a lack of motivation. They compare themselves to other, more successful students and think that these students do better mainly due to their strong and constant motivation to learn, something that doesnt seem to stick around for them. The truth however, is far more simple than that. Motivation isn’t what drives these students, in fact, relying on motivation is one of the fastest ways to stay inconsistant. Disipline is where the real academic gains are made. Motivation is purely an emotion, it comes and goes based on a variety of factors in your life, how you sleep, your energy, desperation, stress, or even something as simple as the time of day. If your goals and habits depend on that feeling, your progress will be unpredictable and lack any consistancy. This is why some students dont have trouble studying one week and and the next, they are majorly struggling. Successful students dont wait to feel ready, they build solid routine that carrys them through any wavering motivation, making their study habits become unaffected by mood. Building an effective routine is actaully quite simple, all it takes is a fixed study time with a controlled enviroment, a planned schedule, a small daily workload and a method of learning. When you have this level of structure and organsiation, motivation goes out the window, you arent depending on an emotion, you are simply following a system. The suprising part of all of this is that despite this process aiming to remove motivation, once you sit down, with an actual realistic plan and a clear path ahead, both confidence and motivation tend to kick in. From there momentum takes you way farther than you thought was possible. This is why consistancy beats motivation. Every single time. Small steps like 30 minutes a day always beats the monthly 6 hour burst. You dont need motivaton, all you need is structure routine and small daily goals. Thats what builds the real results, its what keeps your progress up without relying on unpredicatble emotions.

Lishai Rubinstein

Teaching others is one of the most underappreciated but powerful forms of study. When you explain a concept to another person, you’re forced to identify gaps in your understanding, clarify assumptions you didn’t realise you were making, and translate complex ideas into language that actually makes sense. This process itself is a kind of intellectual refinement: by teaching, you learn twice.
In high school, I personally found this to be one of the most effective study methods. Even though it wasn’t intentional, when my friends and peers would ask for help, I found myself becoming their tutor in the lead up to exams. This meant improving my own understanding of the material, so much so that I began to develop a kind of efficiency for explaining concepts deeply and clearly to others.
This has led directly into my time here at First Education. By teaching students, not only am I becoming a better communicator myself, but I am given the opportunity to pass along these skills to my students. By helping them achieve a deeper understanding, they become fluent enough in the ideas we are working with to be able to translate them and to pass on this knowledge to their own peers. They begin to identify their own misconceptions and assumptions and link together the concepts they have learned.
For students seeking to deepen their understanding, tutoring provides a structure that naturally pushes them beyond surface knowledge. And for tutors, the act of teaching becomes continual revision, rehearsal, and refinement. Ultimately, teaching is not just a service but a method of learning, one that transforms knowledge from something you have into something you can share.

Tyler Klinger

If you ask most students what revising looks like, they’ll probably describe something intense, sitting at a desk for hours, highlighting notes, watching the clock and hoping the information magically sticks. But one of the most effective learning tools is something far simpler and surprisingly undervalued, the thinking break.

Not a scrolling, TikTok break, not a snack break, not a “let me clean my entire room to avoid studying” break, a genuine thinking break.

A thinking break is a short pause usually just one or two minutes where a student steps away from the pressure of the task and lets their brain breath. Although it sounds insignificant, tutors see every day how these little pauses can completely change a student’s confidence and clarity.

Learning becomes harder when the brain is overloaded. Student’s often hit a wall not because the topic is impossible, but because their working memory is exhausted. A quick pause resets the system. It gives space for information to settle, confusion to calm and ideas to become clearer. In fact, some of the best answers students give in tutoring sessions appear after a brief silence where they’re simply thinking.

This is especially true for anxious learners. Sometimes a student doesn’t need another explanation, they just need a moment to process the one they’ve already heard. Thinking breaks can turn frustration into progress, panic into understanding and “I can’t do this” into “Wait… actually I can”.

What’s even better is that thinking breaks teach students something crucial, learning doesn’t have to be rushed. They realise it’s okay to pause, to reflect and to take things step by step and once they adopt this habit, revision becomes far more productive and far less overwhelming.

In tutoring, the quiet moment often matters as much as the active ones. A small pause can unlock a big improvement.

Sometimes, the smartest thing a student can do is simply stop and think.

Isabella Naumovski

Today, I got the chance to sit in on Sienna’s tutoring session with her Year 4 Maths/English student, Evie. Sienna did such a great job keeping Evie engaged and focused the whole time. She picked up really quickly when Evie was getting a bit tired and would let her have a small brain break or switch to a quick chat before getting back into the work. She also kept checking in with little quizzes to see if Evie could answer things on her own after an explanation.

They worked on time questions (reading clocks), and Sienna explained everything really clearly. She broke down the difference between the minute and hour hands and showed Evie exactly how to read an analogue clock based on where the hands were pointing. While they went through the questions, she constantly made sure Evie understood what she was saying, and she used real-life examples like, showing the time on her own watch or poiting to the clock in the room to help things click.

Overall, it was a really positive session. Sienna was patient, encouraging, and really responsive to what Evie needed in the moment. Evie stayed focused, asked lots of questions, and genuinely seemed to enjoy the lesson. It was great to see how well Sienna connected with her and kept the learning fun and understandable.

Bianca Douroudis

Most high school students do not struggle with the actual content of their subjects. They struggle with the simple act of beginning their work. When an assignment is due the next day or a test is coming up, the hardest part is often opening the book or writing the first sentence. The Two Minute Trick is a practical method that removes this barrier by lowering the mental pressure associated with starting. The idea is straightforward. Commit to doing only two minutes of work on the task in front of you. Tell yourself that after two minutes you are free to stop. This small commitment works because it removes the feeling of needing to complete a full study session and instead replaces it with a small, manageable action. Procrastination usually occurs when the task feels large or mentally demanding. By reducing the task to two minutes, the mind no longer tries to avoid it. Once you begin, momentum usually takes over and the work becomes easier to continue. Two minutes of reading often becomes ten. Writing a single sentence often becomes a full paragraph. Solving the first question in a worksheet often leads naturally to solving the next few. Even if you stop at two minutes, you still benefit because you completed the most important step, which is the act of beginning. The long term habit of starting builds consistency, reduces stress and results in better performance during busy periods. Students can apply this method immediately by choosing one subject, opening their notes and working for two minutes on a small part of the task. This could be reading a single page of a novel, attempting the first equation in a homework set or reviewing one concept from a science topic. The Two Minute Trick is effective because it removes the mental resistance that prevents progress and replaces it with simple action that is easy to repeat every day.

Samin Sadaf Hossain