I had the opportunity to observe Lewin’s session. Observing Lewin, his attention to his student’s concerns was immediately apparent. It was clear that he was fully committed to providing personalised support for his student, as he jumped right into the student’s specific questions. One particularly noteworthy aspect of the session was Lewin’s focus on calculator skills. Often overlooked in school education, the ability to efficiently use a calculator is crucial for success in many areas of study. Lewin took the time to guide the student through various calculator functions, explaining not just which buttons to press but also why certain operations were necessary. This practical approach to learning will undoubtedly serve the student well in future mathematical endeavours; this showed me the value of educating the students in content that is outside but adjacent and relevant to their schooling.

The collaborative nature of Lewin’s session was evident throughout. Rather than simply providing answers, he worked alongside the student, encouraging active participation in problem-solving. This approach not only reinforced the student’s understanding but also helped build confidence in their ability to tackle challenging problems independently. A highlight of the session was Lewin’s explanation of exponential population growth and decay. This complex concept, which often confuses students, was broken down into simple, digestible parts. Using clear language and relatable examples, Lewin managed to demystify the topic, making it accessible and comprehensible to the student. Lewin’s enthusiasm for the subject matter was palpable, creating an engaging and positive learning environment. It was clear that the student left the session not only with a better understanding of the material but also with increased confidence in their mathematical abilities.

Great job!

Thea Macarthur-Lassen

I had the pleasure of observing Daphne’s session. Daphne began her session by making a conscious effort to connect with the student. Her warm approach reminded me that the first few minutes with a student are an important moment to gauge their  attention that day, so it was lovely to see Daphne dedicate time to initial casual conversation and open the session with an engaging learning environment. Daphne’s approach helped put the student at ease in what can be a daunting environment and establish a rapport that proved invaluable throughout the session.

Daphne and her student were working on Area and Volume. While this content can be tricky for some, it was great to see how comfortable Daphne made her student feel with the content. Not only did she anticipate questions and effectively explain challenging aspects of the content by breaking each question down, but she utilised the connection she had built with the student to maintain their engagement and, importantly, their enjoyment throughout the process. It was truly impressive to see how well Daphne integrated the content with conversation to make the session fun for the student while also staying on task.

Daphne’s approach to teaching area and volume was also fantastic; her expertise in making complex concepts accessible and enjoyable became all the more evident. Rather than presenting these mathematical principles as isolated topics, Daphne skilfully wove them together, illustrating how volume is a natural extension of area. This approach deepened the student’s understanding and showcased the interconnectedness of mathematical concepts, which are often taught as distinct processes. What stood out most was Daphne’s ability to infuse enthusiasm into this learning process.

Thanks for a great session!

Thea Macarthur-Lassen

I tend to find that students are usually quite good at picking up the distinct elements of an essay: the general purpose of the author and the techniques of the writing. This makes for fairly good essay-writing. It’s missing something, though. What I have noticed students particularly struggle with is the link between, for example, Shakespeare’s use of metaphor in The Merchant of Venice and his actual desire to critique emerging transactional capitalistic ways of thinking he noticed were leaving people feeling unfulfilled and hollow.
I consistently find this is the biggest struggle for students as they progress to the senior years of high school. There is a missing piece here – macro techniques!
These are the wider conceptions of form and structure that constitute the ‘middle man’ between the smaller techniques in the writing and the wider purpose of the text. Macro techniques are the big choices that you’d talk about in a synopsis: Why does Shakespeare tell the story of Antonio and Portia through a comedy? Is it really a comedy? Why does Shakespeare constantly have his characters describe their love and desire through economic language? Asking the right questions helps to bridge between purpose and form. Why is the particular story the author is writing such an effective way of exploring their ideas?
Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice is a story about love, told through a framework of money. The reason why it works is because theatre allows characters to speak directly, to lead the audience through their narrative. We know that Bassanio’s love for Portia belies a preoccupation with wealth and venture symptomatic of his mercantile world… because from the moment he opens his mouth, he can only express his love through economic language – of thrift, venture, and gain. This connectivity, between Shakespeare’s concerns about a world whose frameworks of understanding were too hollow to sum up the human experience, and his decision to express this through the dramatic form, and then intricately embed it into the dialogue of his characters…I love reading this in an essay. Tell me exactly why that metaphor matters!

Kate Ambrogio

I have been a tutor myself for nearly three years, a job that I take great pride in adding to resume. “Effective & Empathetic Communication,” “Problem Solving” “Relationship Building” – buzzwords that stand proudly next to “Tutor at First Education” subheading. Tutoring has taught indeed taught me how to effectively communicate and solve problems, more than just those in a maths textbook. I have learnt not only how to adapt to diverse learning styles and academic needs but also how to listen, empathise, and encourage students as they navigate their academic journeys, something I myself experienced as a student at First Education nearly four years ago as I was extended the chance to get to know my tutors.

Each session brings a new challenge, and each student a new story, which has pushed me to be creative and flexible in my approach. One of the things I value most about tutoring is the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with my students. It’s such a lovely thing to see how students’ confidence grows when they start getting and understanding concepts that once seemed impossible. Watching them overcome challenges with persistence and self-belief is incredibly inspiring, and it reminds me of the impact that patient, personalised guidance can have on a person’s academic path, especially when I think back to my own experience at school. Whether in English or Maths, I’ve learned to make each session feel less like a lecture and more like a collaborative journey – a skill I believe I would be without as I come towards the end of my degree without having worked here.

Tutoring has been a significant part of my professional growth, and hence, it’s a role I’m genuinely proud to share when I am asked about it in a job interview and how its helped me develop as a person.

Teg

I had the pleasure of observing my good friend Chloe tutor and her student in Mathematics.

Chloe appeared to be tutoring her Year 9 student, focussing specifically on two main topics – factorising and financial mathematics. They were working through textbook questions as well as printed worksheets / past paper questions. I commend Chloe for her unique ability to inspire efficiency within her lessons. This was made clear when I noticed her marking her student’s work, while at the same time her student was working on a new question. In this way, Chloe was able to get through an array of questions and maximise productivity throughout the lesson.

In alignment with her diligent and productive nature, Chloe tutors in a way that is highly engaging. By asking her student questions and prompting thought she was able to solidify her understanding of certain concepts, rather than solely telling her student the answer. This interactive method of promoting thought is necessary when teaching students as it allows the development of active recall and critical thinking.

Chloe’s optimism provided a sense of reassurance to her student, particularly when she appeared to be worried about an upcoming exam and the style of questions that she will be examined on. Chloe’s ability to reassure her student through positive reinforcement, in alignment with her direct way of communicating, provide her students with confidence and allow them to understand and retain information. As tutors we must all be able to provide this reassurance to our students and aim to inspire confidence within them.

It is clear that Chloe is a highly skilled tutor and places much emphasis on the success of her students. Overall, I believe that it would be wise for other tutors to adopt Chloe’s innate ability to be efficient, coupled with her ability to effectively communicate with others in the pursuit of their learning.

James Petrakis

This semester, my social psychology lecturer introduced a really cool concept called “referent influence”. The idea centres on how peer influence can be surprisingly powerful—often even more effective than authority figures. Although this phenomenon is primarily employed within spheres of politics, my lecturer also explained how students tend to respond better when guidance comes from someone they see as a peer rather than from teachers. It clicked for me then, that this concept shifts my perceptions of how tutoring works, notably how it can feel more natural and impactful when tutoring comes from someone relatable.

Take a typical classroom—students usually learn from teachers who are knowledgeable but might feel distant. Now, imagine a tutoring setup where the “teacher” is a peer, someone the student can relate to or admire. This kind of peer-to-peer setup can make a big difference because the motivation isn’t just about completing assignments; it’s about wanting to keep up with or emulate someone they look up to. In this way, the learning feels more personal and likely sticks because it’s not based on pressure from above​.

Around the same time, I stumbled on some research about music psychology and its role in reducing anxiety. Although we don’t provide music during sessions, as a person who plays and sings, I found it profoundly interesting to reflect on my own past with music as a tool during school and a gateway to connect with others. The study talked about how group music sessions could provide a low-key but effective way for students to handle stress and bond with others. Thinking about it, tutoring often comes with stress, and these group sessions might offer a new way to make the environment more comfortable. Music, in this context, becomes a tool to break down stress, giving students a chance to connect and express themselves without pressure. It’s easy to imagine how this would help them feel more at ease and open to learning.

Together, these ideas make me see tutoring as more than just helping someone understand a subject. When we factor in things like peer influence and stress management, tutoring could actually become a really powerful support system that meets, in my mind, equally vital criteria; academic and emotional needs.

Toby Bower

Hi Guys,
Today I had the opportunity to observe Ashley’s session with her Business Studies student in lead up to the Business HSC Exam. The tutoring session was based around the student asking clarifying questions and Ashley answering these as well as planning essay responses based on syllabus requirements. Ashley used clear communication and continuous discussion to engage with her student throughout the session.

Ashley guided her responses to students’ questions with clear definitions and examples, targeting them towards HSC questions and expectations for the exam. Giving the examples of questions and giving response guidelines was very informative to the student making expectations of questions and content very clear. Ashley also guided her session using the syllabus, a very crucial tool for business studies, always coming back to this to guide the student. Ashley made crucial links within the syllabus, for example drawing connections between operations influences and operations strategies to guide the student’s detail in responses as well as reaching a critical thinking level of response.

Additionally, they discussed the use of case studies and how they link to specific syllabus points, guiding answers for Section 4 of the exam. This process both helped with the student’s memory of the case studies as well as giving real world examples to make the content easier to understand. The session was very collaborative between Ashley and her student, with Ashley guiding her student through responding and asking leading questions throughout the session to inform and encourage her student. They focused on core business functions guiding how a Business Studies essay can be written in reflection to this, creating plans to ensure key syllabus points were addressed.

This session was great to observe, in particular her use connection between content and examples was very informative!

Grace Blatch

Today I had the opportunity to observe Annaliese. In this session, she demonstrated impressive patience when breaking down the challenging concepts of circumference, area, volume, and surface area . Her student came to the session very confused and very stressed about her upcoming yearly exam. Annaliese started by simplifying each formula and working through straightforward examples to help the student understand the basic steps of substituting in lengths etc. The tutor connected circumference to the distance around a circular track, to the radius and diameter which seemed to engage the student and help them understand how it would work out. Then they moved on to the area of other normal shapes, and compound shapes, working together to break up the shapes into smaller more manageable shapes.

The tutor also emphasises the importance of identifying each shape’s properties before applying any formulas, which allowed the student to distinguish when to use which formula (e.g whether it was a parallelogram, or a rhombus, etc). I learned the value of layering explanations—from basic concepts to complex applications—and saw how helpful it was to reinforce foundational knowledge simply to build the students confidence, before extending to try harder problem solving questions.This helped when they moved onto the volume of shapes (which all stem directly from the area of the main face). Annalieses methodical and well planned approach to the session made it successful, and allowed to the student to understand how everything fit together. She got the student to verbally walk through each step – which also highlighted the power of active recall in solidifying understanding, (and also so Annaliese could check she was understanding the working /the processes why they were doing what they were). The session was both effective and highlighted how essential patience and pre planning are when helping / guiding students through multi-step problem-solving and preparing for upcoming exams.

Shyla Gloster

I observed Noah’s Maths lesson with Eli where they were studying for an upcoming finals exam.

The lesson started with the examining of mathematical formulas including the surface area of a prism. They then started to practice this concept with a follow up to consolidate Eli’s current understanding.

Noah managed to continue to encourage his student when he didn’t understand or correctly answer the question, reminding him to return to the context and apply the correct formulas.

Noah kept asking questioning between each problem to make sure that his student was understanding every step they were taking. Even when the explanations for a bit confusing, Noah brought in physical visualisation techniques including using the tissue box and a paper cup to further explain the circumference and area of shapes.

Overall, Noah’s determination to revisit difficult contexts multiple times show his patience and lack of frustration to make sure his student completely understand the content before moving on. This is definitely important in grasping the foundations before moving on to complex questions. I found this lesson quite enjoyable to observe!

Samantha Nguyen

Hey Everyone!

Today I had the opportunity to observe Ashley’s primary lesson, which was super valuable! I was really impressed by her approach to primary students because she ensured that she covered all aspects of language learning at the same time. Her and her student worked through a series of words that she had for homework, but Ashley would ask different questions to check the students understanding. This included asking the student to read the word aloud, asking what the word means, asking them to put it in a sentence, and then covering the word and asking them to spell it. I believe this to be an effective method with primary school kids to work on multiple different aspects of English at the same time rather than just on spelling, reading or comprehension at one time. This gives them an understanding of the word in its context and provides variation in the lesson to keep them engaged.

When the student had difficulty spelling a word, she would help the student to break it down into sounds and ask what letters make each sound. This prompts the student to think about the structure of the word and work on learning how sounds combine. After the student had figured it out, she also gave examples of other words that follow a similar spelling rule. This was helpful for the student to further learn the patterns of sound.

One major challenge with primary students is keeping them engaged for the full hour. Ashley maintained the focus of her student by allowing for small ‘chat breaks’ throughout the session and then quickly bringing it back to the task at hand. She also allowed the student to relate the words that they were working on to things that she was interested in or could relate to.

This was a really interesting lesson to observe and am looking forward to integrating what I have learnt into my own sessions!!

Riva Burkett