Why I love tutoring

Wednesday afternoons are my favourite hour of my work week.

For the past two years I have had the pleasure of working with a delightful Year 6 boy on developing his maths skills.

I have watched him make amazing progress over this time and I every week I walk out of our session smiling and remembering why I LOVE teaching.

There is so much that is challenging about teaching. It is emotionally and physically draining. There are demanding parents, 'paperwork' and logistics that take up so much time, but at the heart of it all is one of the most rewarding jobs going around!

Since I was an undergraduate teacher I have tutored students in maths. First it was the grandson of the people who lived across the road from my mum and dad's house, then it was the daughter of our next-door neighbour, and slowly the word spread from there.

Over the years I have worked with many students. I believe the time I have spent working with these students 1-1 has been invaluable for my pedagogical content knowledge development. 

When you work 1-1, you have the time and space to see and notice everything that is going on for the student. If your explanation doesn't hit the spot, you have to immediately think of another way to explain the idea. This is also the case in a classroom, but when you are 1-1 with a child for 60 minutes, there are no distractions, and if they don't understand there is no escaping for them, or for you!

In a classroom things move fast and sometimes this can be frustrating. Sometimes you just want to sit down and help a child until they actually 'get' what you are saying. When you work 1-1 with a student you have that opportunity.

Every Wednesday afternoon I relish the opportunity to refine my teaching craft. I try out new teaching techniques and discover misconceptions and connected pieces of knowledge that I hadn't noticed previously. I am constantly honing the sequence and order in which I teach skills, to ensure my student develops the pre-requisite skills and knowledge he requires for more complex skills. I am literally building the foundations, one brick at a time!

Last night we were working on developing fluency with halving. We had been building this skill up over a number of weeks. We had started with doubling single digit numbers. I introduced the idea of doubling (two equal groups) and with daily practice at home (this retrieval practice is a non-negotiable. Very early on, I explained my expectations, that if we are to move forward each week, he must practice every day between our sessions for 5 minutes. I can help with the teaching, but he has to meet me half-way by working on the practice!). Quickly he became fluent in the doubles facts.

Next we worked on doubling 2-digit numbers (20, 30, 40). We talked about how our knowledge of double 2 is 4, helps us with double 2 tens, which is 4 tens. Next we worked on doubling numbers with tens and ones (no bridging) for example: 24,62, 63. Then we worked on doubling that required bridging (46,38, 27 etc). This required some back-tracking to work on addition and place value. For example, double 4 tens is 8 tens, double 6 ones is 12 ones, but then we needed to work on adding 8 tens and 12 ones. We got out the MAB to model, and soon we were on our way!

All of this led us to halving. We talked about how halving is breaking a collection into two equal parts. We worked on halving numbers, firstly with single digit even numbers (2,4,6,8) applying our prior knowledge of doubles facts. Then we worked on halving even number of tens (20,40,60, 80), Next it was numbers with an even numbers of tens and ones (26,48,64).

One of the things I love about tutoring is I get to design a program to ensure we follow a systematic and strategic path to master each foundational skill.

Last night I asked him the following:

Half of 26 is ___

Half of 42 is ____

Half of 88 is ____

I then asked: How could you check with a calculator if your answers are correct?

He replied: "That is a great question! I am not sure!" (this made me laugh- something else I love about teaching- the random comments and moments that pop up!)

So, we delved deeper (we were now working on applying his knowledge of doubling and halving)

I asked: What do you know about doubling?

Him: It is two groups of the same size. 

Me: OK, so what if I asked you to double 43 on the calculator.

Him: I would put in 43 + 43. 

Me: Ok what else could you do? Could you use another operation?

Him: Oh, 43 x 2

Me: Great, so doubling is multiplying by 2. Does that help you with halving?

Him: Oh!💡I get it! It is connected!! I could do the opposite 26 divided by 2 would give me half!

Me: Yes!! Great thinking!

It is these moments that I absolutely LOVE! When you see all the work fall into place and lightbulb go on, it is absolutely priceless!

I am 100% getting as much out of our sessions as he is!

So this week, I encourage you to spend a little extra time sitting with one student in your class (someone you feel you haven't sat with a lot this year)- it doesn't have to be an hour (let's face it, it is not going to be!). Sometimes spending a few extra minutes can make all the difference.

Really make a conscious effort (if possible) to actively sit and listen. You will get to hear a little more about their thinking and this might give you the opportunity to try to explain a concept in another way. Or it might give you an insight into a gap you didn't realise was there, that you can come back and address another time.

At the very least, you can be working on building your relationship with that child. Almost every child (and adult) just wants to be seen, heard and listened to- and as an added bonus you will be polishing your maths teaching skills!

Have a great week!

Ange🎓🎲

P.S. You can download the PDF version of this blog to print or share with colleagues here.