Anna Thom

Hi! My name is Anna and I am an experienced student teacher based in Nottingham. I am currently coming towards the end of my final year of my Primary Teaching degree and have completed 3 placements across the primary phase. I love teaching and hope to develop my career as a tutor!

Before the first tutorial we will have a session to establish what the student needs and any parental expectations. During this time we can assess any development areas and any teaching approaches that have proven to work with the student, and also any that don’t. I strongly believe it is key to building trust and rapport with students, during this time we can also discuss the students likes and dislikes, as I love tailoring lessons to blend the curriculum with student interests! An example of this might be Star Wars fractions (my year 5 maths club loved this!). During planning, I will set the student long term and short-term goals and explain to the student and parents how I plan to reach those goals. I would start off a tutoring session with a fun activity to engage the student, for example using a game or pop quiz. Next, I would recap any problem areas that have been previously discussed and explain to the student how we are going to tackle this together. Then, I would present a new skill or idea and show examples of how-to problem solve. I think it is vital to be patient and work through any problems together, I welcome all questions and will always take my time to go over anything necessary for the student. I may then ask the student to have a go at answering a few questions themselves and then we would go through the answers and workings out together, throughout the tutoring session I will use positive praise and ensure I make an effort to commend the students strengths. Before concluding the tutor session, we can discuss how the lesson went and what the next steps are future lessons.

When considering my tutor experience, although I have not tutored privately, I have gained a wealth of experience during my university teaching placements teaching small group and one – one lessons. These have been in a range of subjects including Maths, English, Science and the wider curriculum. During my time teaching reception, I would often hold small intervention groups to focus on phonics (letters and sounds scheme) over 3 months. I would also teach pupils on a one-one basis for mathematics, this would include adding and subtracting 1 to a number between 0 and 10. During my 3-month year 5 placement I also had the opportunity to teach remote online lessons to 2 pupils, we focused on adjectives and story structure during English, and I was able to evidence the pupils progress through the online classroom used. My most recent placement was in Year 1, I taught small intervention groups as well as whole class lessons in all subjects over 4 months. When considering my curriculum knowledge, thanks to the most up to date training in university and in schools, I feel confident tutoring both key stage 1 and key stage 2, my strengths lie within Mathematics and English and I am up to date with exam expectations for Year 2 and Year 6 SATS. I am able to assist with Grammar, punctuation and spelling as well as reading and Arithmetic SATS preparation for Year 2. For year 6 English and Mathematics, I am able to help with SPaG and practice reading booklets as well as reasoning and arithmetic, I am aware of marking schemes and expectations and can tailor lessons to reflect this.