Shona

I am a qualified chemistry teacher, with nine years of teaching experience and an in-depth knowledge of the SQA curriculum. I love teaching, and enjoy the challenge of supporting young people to overcome their difficulties in chemistry and inspiring them to enjoy the subject. I have a Masters in Chemistry from the University of Edinburgh and full registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

Current tutoring availability: Wednesday 4.30-5.30pm or Wednesday 6.30-8.30pm. Higher or N5 only

Tutoring Experience

I have been teaching Chemistry for nine years in both the state and private sectors and have experience at all levels (S1-S6). I have also tutored privately throughout my teaching career and have worked with several pupils, from National 5 to Advanced Higher level, all of whom have achieved A grades in their final exams and have gone on to study subjects such as medicine, teaching and sciences at university.

I have extensive experience of mentoring young people, supporting them with university applications and building confidence in Chemistry. I am supportive and caring and work hard to make pupils feel relaxed and comfortable so that they feel able to make mistakes, ask questions and enjoy the lesson.

Tutoring Approach

I have a detailed and up to date knowledge of the SQA curriculum and exam specification which I use to ensure that pupils are familiar with the specific phrases, concepts and exam techniques that they will need to know for their exam. Attention to detail is so important and this will be a big focus of our sessions, using the course specification to help us.

I work with pupils to identify their specific barriers to learning and use this to tailor the tutoring to their specific need, whether that be revising specific concepts, practising calculations, revision techniques or confidence boosting with exam question practise. I use a wide range of approaches, depending on the needs of the individual pupil, to help them understand and remember information. If pupils have a large amount of content to be covered, we will put together a timetable so that pupils are aware of their targets for each week. I believe in the importance of developing excellent revision strategies and incorporate these into my tutoring practise. I provide resources and practise materials for pupils to use after the lesson and, to ensure that the lesson time is as productive as possible, I encourage pupils to complete some preparation work beforehand if appropriate. This allows us to use the lesson time to work on identified areas of challenge or to practise applying knowledge to more challenging exam questions. My aim for each pupil is that we boost their confidence in chemistry to the extent that their reliance on me as a tutor is reduced with time and they move towards becoming self-reliant and confident scientists with a strong understanding of the course combined with excellent study skills and exam technique.

I can do online tutoring using Google Meets, Teams or Zoom and my iPad/Apple Pencil to allow me to draw, write and illustrate concepts. I have a wide range of resources/exam questions/notes etc that I share with pupils over email or Google Classroom.