Sam

I am a full-time tutor with a passion for learning and a broad range of interests.

I graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in English in 2011, and spent the following year travelling in Croatia, Poland, and Ukraine, where I taught English as a foreign language, before returning to the UK in 2013. Since then I have lived and taught in various parts of the country including Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, and Sheffield, before moving to London in 2018 to pursue a Master's Degree in Contemporary Literature and Culture.

I enjoy working with young people and helping them to succeed, and tutoring has been the perfect way for me to continue to do this since leaving the classroom. It has also enabled me to share my love of both Mathematics and English, and to encourage students to believe that they can achieve in both, challenging the false but widely held perception that these two subjects are polar opposites.

Tutoring Experience

I have extensive and varied teaching experience, both in the classroom and on a one-to-one basis.

I spent five years teaching KS3 and GCSE Mathematics in three different secondary schools in the North of England. This included one year as Head of Department at an academy in South Yorkshire, where outcomes improved to reach a record high under my leadership.

During the academic year 2018-19 I have worked individually with 16 students, tutoring in the following subjects:

-KS3 Mathematics
-GCSE English
-GCSE Mathematics
-GCSE Statistics
-A-Level Mathematics

I am familiar and comfortable with the three main awarding bodies for English and Maths (Edexcel, AQA, and OCR), and am equally happy working with students at Foundation level or at the top end of Higher (CGSE Grades 8 and 9).

In June 2019 I will be marking exam scripts for Pearson for a second year, an experience which provides valuable insights into common misconceptions and difficulties, and how best to help students overcome these.

Tutoring Approach

Mathematics and Statistics (KS3, GCSE, A-Level):

For an initial lesson, I bring a selection of twelve questions on a variety of topics appropriate to the individual student's age / experience. In this way I am able to gauge which skills have been mastered and which require development, and this will then inform the questions I bring to future lessons.

Each lesson I will seek to introduce increasingly challenging elements in order to stretch students and build towards problem-solving and exam-style questions, all the while balancing this with my judgement of the student's own sense of confidence, as I firmly believe in the importance of not making students feel overwhelmed or out of their depth.

I am also happy to work on any topics specified by students themselves, perhaps flagged up as gaps in a recent assessment, or as part of revision for an upcoming assessment.

English Language / Literature (GCSE):

I am happy to focus on English Literature, English Language, or both. In the majority of cases the most appropriate approach will be to look at exam papers and discuss the requirements of each question, coaching students through how to analyse the different aspects of a text, including content, language, and structure. I develop my own resources, closely based on previous exam papers, so that students are able to familiarise themselves with the style and demands of the exam without any overlap with material that may be used in schools (e.g. previous exam papers used for mock exams).

I am happy to work with students on any of the texts listed for GCSE English Literature (common examples include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Christmas Carol, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Frankenstein for Paper 1; An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, and Never Let Me Go for Paper 2). I have also developed a wide range of ‘unseen’ poetry tasks similar to those which will be encountered on Paper 2 alongside questions on the anthology poems (usually ‘Power and Conflict’ or ‘Love and Relationships’). Exam boards differ on which elements of the course are assessed on each of the papers; I am aware of this and will tailor my work with students accordingly.

I am also happy to tutor English at KS3 and A-Level. Please contact me if there are particular texts or aspects of English you would like to discuss.

General:

More broadly, I draw from a variety of online, textbook and tailor-made resources, adapting my approach according to each individual student's needs. I ask questions more often than I give answers, an approach which encourages students to think for themselves rather than relying upon an external source of knowledge. In this way, students are better prepared to ask themselves the right questions when confronted with a problem or text in an exam or real-life situation, thereby becoming more independent thinkers.