Mark Cassidy

As a young student I really struggled with Dyslexia and learning/remembering different "methods" to solve mathematical problems.

I found it difficult to interpret questions and know what I was supposed to do.

When I was around 16 I was thinking about this and began to explore different mathematical concepts using the new-fangled thing called the World-Wide-Web... Who knew that'd become a thing?!

I discovered that all the mathematical concepts I had been learning can be logically and constructively linked together. For instance if I take the topic of circles from A-level; this links back to Pythagoras' theorem which links back to things we learned about triangles in primary school! Seems obvious now but for 16 year-old me it was a revelation. Other weird things pop up when you go down this road - for instance subtraction isn't really a thing, it's just adding negative numbers. This then begs the question why are negative numbers taught as this monolithic and confusing thing as a separate topic?

My teaching style focuses upon this journey of discovery - Where are my student currently at? How do we take the next step towards our goal? Very often we need to start with the basics - handling negative numbers and fractions are common weaknesses. Once the gaps in the fundamental skills are filled we can then confidently link other concepts and build quickly towards our qualification of choice.

Please feel free to get in touch and discuss your needs and how I can help! I've taught across many courses, from UK GCSE and A-Level, through their international variants to the more exotic and bespoke like SAT and University level courses.