Debbie

I qualified as a secondary design and technology teacher, after a few years I moved to work in special educational needs settings, where I gained much experience in how to differentiate and adapt my style of teaching. I began teaching maths when I moved to work in SEND schools, I had previously studied maths at A level and have always had a passion for the subject and problem solving. I currently tutor pupils who have difficulties with maths. A few years ago, I gained my OCR level 5 qualification as a specific learning difficulties teacher. I have much experience teaching dyscalculic, dyslexic and autistic pupils.

Tutoring Experience

I taught in schools for 10 years, 6 of which were in special education needs settings. I worked at a special educational needs secondary school and taught in both provisions for autistic pupils, within a secondary school and led a provision in a primary school.
I have been a specialist maths tutor for 8 years. I develop engaging, structured resources suitable for pupils who have difficulties with maths. I have an understand how to build maths skills and provide strategies, good knowledge of the national curriculum/syllabus and required understanding for maths from KS2 up to foundation level GCSE.

Tutoring Approach

My approach is to secure foundation key skills. I believe true differentiation is individual to each child; it is about assessing skills, not assuming transferable knowledge and teaching at the level of each child. To do this it is necessary to provide resources that aid understanding and to also recap and overlearn topics.
I plan bespoke lessons, my resources are clear, visual, colour coded and have been developed over time to find effective ways to teach learners who may have difficulty understanding concepts. In addition, I provide detailed feedback to parents after lessons. As a teacher I was effective at speaking to parents calmly and empathetically about a range of issues related to their children. I have used this experience throughout my time tutoring which helps me build positive working relationships with my pupils and their parents.
I feel it is important to also teach maths as a life skill, I want pupils to understand when maths is useful to them in a practical sense beyond their education. I strongly believe that with appropriate, differentiated teaching, gaps can be filled, and all pupils can make progress.