Christina G.

I am a committed team player. Collaborative planning, creation, sharing of resources, and productive discussion for and coordination of future initiatives, both within the English department and for schools or educational communities, enthuse me. I aim to look for solutions. I will support students facing challenges in their learning to help them work out ways to access material and build on their learning so that they can move forwards and upwards within my subject area. I like to make connections within and outside of the subject. Small achievements are just as significant as big end goals.

My starting point is introducing and sharing educational experiences with a student. I will encourage discussion around reading and writing interests, perhaps questions about challenges and successes within the particular subject area. I will also be interested to know the various curriculum courses covered so far in the student's learning journey and where they are studying or have studied. I would ask the student to complete a few short writing and reading challenges to gauge their competence and help me identify any needs they might have about the subject tutoring. I would also be keen to know from the student where within the subject they would like to focus their tutored additional study.

I can help develop personal organization skills so that students will know how to manage their own time, resources, and learning journeys. I will be able to offer checkpoint self-evaluation for students enabling them to move towards independent learning.

I would seek to understand what does interest students outside of school, perhaps hoping to know what hobbies they are involved in or world issues they find interesting. I can help students connect with reading or writing activities they find motivating by learning these things.

I would try several different approaches and use additional resources. I would communicate with the student to see if other factors might affect the grasping of the skill or concept. I would offer examples and work with the student. As a final resort, I would note the Administrators or IB ++ to see if further support is needed.

I offer glossaries of terms, dictionary definitions, and explanations of phrases to enable students to access the meaning of texts used in reading comprehension. It may be necessary to discuss the meaning of texts further away from the reading of a text so that the student can go back to the text with a renewed understanding of certain elements to help them with their comprehension.

Having the student read and repeat the instructions themselves or explain the directions for a task back to me is useful when working with a new student. I start with a slow and steady approach, gauging interest and capability about whatever task we are working on. I want to use some visual aids, if possible, and small steps with immediate success moving onwards to larger tasks with more challenging activities. Keeping a checklist with the student so they can see movement and progression in what we're working on is also helpful as a strategy.

I would help students become excited or engaged with a subject they are struggling with by connecting the topic with something they're working towards that interests them outside of study and their workload. It may be an activity they are looking forward to or something they see as an achievement to work towards about their skills within or outside of the subject at school. Numerous adaptations can be made to resources or learning patterns to make something more accessible for students.

I would follow a program through which students would follow to know that they were constantly moving towards an understanding of the material: 1st meeting with the material - keywords, definitions, assumptions about a topic or point—discussing and exploring material- expanding ideas and details surrounding the core material. Comparisons and connections with prior learning will involve charting a topic or material back to things the student may already know from previous reading, writing, or other subjects. Practice with new material and application of new learning to a unique situation - this would be exercises or scenarios covering reading and writing. Checkpoint Testing will be quick-fire testing to check what has been absorbed quickly and what needs to be checked and learned again. This might also include self-assessment activities and creating tests for themselves to use for future study. Teaching and passing on newly learned material will be a chance for students to take what they've learned and teach it back to me, giving students confidence and demonstrating to them that they now understand the material and can use it for themselves. Final evaluation - I would expect students to note their reflections on how the learning process has gone for them. This will be helpful for them to track as they move onward to more material.

I build students' confidence by praising and offering compliments on their learning styles. I can give (educational) rewards in exchange for positive learning and attitude. This might include a free-choice task time or the chance to test me instead of me testing them. I would also give positive reports to parents (and students) explaining their progress and ensuring that students are praised at home for their development in their studies.

This will largely depend on my knowledge of the student's curriculum. I would expect to have information to know what age-related, location-related, or curriculum-based assessments students are working towards. Then I would use general SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar) and content checks to see whether there are gaps or areas needing reinforcement to ensure success for the student at whatever they are aiming for. I also see value in asking students (and parents) honestly to tell of the needs they think they have about the learning of the subject.

I would keep a documented record of my own with details of the student's prior learning and educational experience about the subject. I would set (SMART) targets with students about their experience and feedback. Each session would provide information for me to see what is working and what might need adapting for the following sessions. This may be things like shorter texts, additional vocabulary and definitions support, scaffolded tasks and activities, or using a variety of formats.

PowerPoint, Padlet, Word Documents (shared Google drive) or simple text handouts, Teachit Timer, Kahoot, etc.