Marcia Mcswegan

I am passionate about providing young people with the skills and confidence to reach their full potential. Each learner has their own unique abilities and challenges; therefore, I think it is essential to remain flexible in my approach to best serve the students' needs. I also believe it is essential to maintain a relaxed atmosphere where students feel comfortable expressing any confusion or difficulties without fear of judgment. This is the most significant advantage of one-to-one tuition: tutees do not have to fear the opinions of their peers. It is entirely normal for young learners to hesitate in a classroom setting, especially when they sense that others might be sailing through topics that challenge them. My mantra is simple: there are no "silly questions" - only topics they have not mastered yet.

My general approach is based on the "see one, do one, teach one" principle. I will initially guide students through how I would solve a problem, highlighting common pitfalls I've identified from my experience with previous learners. The student is encouraged to interrupt me at any time to clarify or reframe my explanations - this is their learning journey, after all! I will then provide a few example problems- gradually withdrawing the level of prompting/input to promote independent thinking and enhance their retention of the information. This allows the student to build their confidence with the problem type. Once I sense that they are ready, I will ask them to teach me how to do the question, step by step. I will pose questions like "So how do I start this problem?" or "Why do I do that?". This cultivates critical thinking, improves problem-solving skills, and, in my experience, gives a genuine sense of achievement and accomplishment, which significantly boosts their confidence levels.

I can also help with homework and, on request, can leave the learner some questions to work on before the next lesson. If this is requested, I recommend that the questions be attempted at least 2 days after the lesson to test that they still remember. If the tutee has questions between lessons, the parent is welcome to send a message via WhatsApp, and I will either type a reply, send a photo of a worked example with notes or, in trickier questions, send a quick video of me talking through the problem.