IB Alumnus about to become a fully-qualified lawyer; tutoring English SL/HL & Philosophy SL, which I scored (7) in both subjects & Extended Essay, the English helped me stay sharp through law school where language, research, and persuasion are essential, I have 8+ years of teaching experience.
Tutor Bio
I completed the IB DP in 2015 and loved being an English Language and Literature student. My Extended Essay was on Philosophy, and getting an 'A' of 34/34 marks for it taught me that I was good at analyzing ideas and writing persuasively. I have always enjoyed discovering exciting ideas with people and helping them articulate their perspectives. So I started tutoring IB English, and Extended Essays immediately after and have no plans to stop. Every day is about bringing out good ideas using persuasive language and high-quality research. My love of language, concepts, and writing saw me through law and into a career in policy research and writing (sample writing here). I tutor in my off-hours, which helps me learn new ideas and improve my analytical and communication skills. It also refreshes my IB knowledge so I can continue assisting others to have a more rewarding and enjoyable IB experience. I hold a BA in Law and am on my way to completing a post-graduate diploma in law. In my free time, I like to read, travel, and TRY to cook random recipes off the internet.
Teaching Experience
2015-Present @ Freelance IB Tutor
IBDP Tutor
Guided IB DP students in developing good research questions and conducting effective research to writing strong Extended Essays from scratch in English Language and Literature; Guided IB DP students seeking to revise their draft Extended Essays based on comments from supervisors to improve their final submissions before EE deadlines.
2021-2022 @ Kenya National Commission on Human Rights
Trainee Advocate
2020-2021 @ Sera Afrika
Ecosystem and Partnerships
Conducting qualitative and quantitative research and analyzing literature on best practices to support consultations on over 50 blue and green economy development projects at varying stages from project prospectuses to implementation design and evaluation.
2019-2020 @ Sera Afrika
Research Analyst
Researched delivery gaps in food systems policies and prepared proposals for data-based solutions that allow underserved populations to benefit from funded projects; Prepared 5 policy papers on social and development matters advocating better data governance for accurate impact monitoring and interoperability for flexible knowledge sharing.
2018 @ I Lab Africa
In-house Writer
Conducted interviews and research on critical persons and projects promoting increased digitalization in entrepreneurship and social development contexts; Researched and wrote blog posts on the impact of I Lab Africa’s activities on technology and entrepreneurship; Provided journalistic coverage of and managed web engagement at I Lab Africa and related events.
2017-2018 @ Microsoft Policy Innovation Centre
Research Intern
Analyzed developmental challenges in Kenya’s technology policy frameworks, with a critical achievement being a solo policy paper on improving regulatory support for the investments of social enterprises that employ TV-White Space technology to create value in remote communities; Collaborated in the development of policy papers on a wide spectrum of social and economic rights issues entailed in Kenya’s digitalization journey; Supported the preparation of funding proposals for the implementation of policy proposals.
Education
Strathmore University, Nairobi, Kenya
Bachelor of Laws
Oasis International School, Cairo, Egypt
IB Diploma (36 Points – 7 in English A Language and Literature HL; 7 in Philosophy SL (English); A in Philosophy Thesis).
Green Hills Academy, Kigali, Rwanda
O-Level (A Grade Average – A* in English FL, A* in English Literature).
Teaching Skills
Diploma Programme
English Language A Language and Literature HL
English Language A Language and Literature SL
English Language A Literature and Performance SL
English Language A Literature HL
English Language A Literature SL
English Language B HL
English Language B SL
Extended Essay (EE)
Individual Oral (IO)
Philosophy SL
Tutor Teaching Style
I learn best when I develop a personal interest in what I am doing. I learned to use the essential skills of the DP as tools to explore my curiosity, learn more about the world, and express my ideas clearly. I employ this approach with my students. In the short term, this helps students improve their grades. In a long time, it turns them into people with the skills to develop new concepts and the confidence to convince the world of their value.
Introduce myself and share my relevant background. Learn a bit about the student and their IB journey to discover their strengths and growing points. Encourage the student to realize and express what they hope to get out of our session(s). Please work with the student to develop a strategy tailored to their specific goals.
Life is full of things that inspire interest. Independent learners are effective at diving deep into their curiosities on their own. To help students achieve this, I teach them how to understand topics that interest them better and share their perspectives with others clearly and convincingly. I can help students develop: research skills so that they know how to seek knowledge; develop analytical skills so that they know how to improve their understanding; communication skills to share their discoveries, and self-management skills to set and meet timelines for their learning goals. These are life skills that, once nurtured, create instinctive life-long learners who can turn curiosity into information that is valuable in their school, work, social, and personal lives.
I try to ensure that students have a personal investment in their learning activities--usually by asking about their interests and using skills learned in the IB to explore them. In my IB life, however, my biggest motivator was a sense of personal growth. Once a student and I discover an exciting angle for learning, I work with them to develop clear intermittent learning outcomes and timelines so that they can track their progress. This way, they watch their efforts bear fruit, see and share their challenges, and feel empowered to continue working towards their end goals. Doing this while engaging with topics that interest the students ensures they can avoid getting bored, losing sight of their goals, or feeling like they cannot overcome an emergent challenge.
I pay attention to their specific challenges and encourage students to do the same as we solve them. I break down the complex skills and concepts into more uncomplicated steps so the student can see how they work. I run them through different exercises testing the step-by-step method so that they can develop an intuitive understanding of the process in other contexts. As the student progresses, I encourage them to have confidence in their growing knowledge.
I also keep track of past challenges. This enables us to review them later, refresh the student's tactics for overcoming them and reinforce their confidence in their ability to grow.
The skill of breaking down skills and concepts is beneficial for comprehension. All texts are made up of different parts that weave together to form a coherent whole. I guide students to learn how to separate the parts from the total. This way, they can identify what they understand and are missing. This makes it easier for students to know what they need to pay special attention to so that, in the future, they know how to make sure that they understand the whole text well.
Building rapport is the best way to start working with students. My student needs to have the comfort and confidence to collaborate in goal-setting, and they need to trust that I am paying attention to their needs. This way, we can develop effective learning strategies tailored to their challenges, set clear paths for achieving goals, and approach future tutoring sessions with enthusiasm.
With the flexibility of the IB and digital learning platforms, there are many possible ways to approach every subject. I work with students to discover approaches that interest them and then shape those approaches to fit the subjects that they find challenging.
I like to use mini-assessments at the end of a tutoring session. This helps me and the student obtain a clear picture of how well they learned in that session. If the assessment reveals any challenge areas, we can note them down as a take-home practice area for the student once they leave the session. If the previous session identified a challenge, I let the student know that they would lead a review of the take-home assignment in the next session. One of the best ways to confirm understanding is when a student can teach the material. In any case, all subsequent lessons with a student begin with a recap of the previous session's material. I encourage the student to ask any questions they may need clarification on.
Additionally, I like to structure subsequent sessions in a way that integrates the lessons of previous sessions. This keeps the material fresh in the student's minds and helps them see how the different sessions complement each other.
Revising previous lessons and integrating previous material into new material helps grow a student's familiarity with the subject. Successful mini-assessments and reviews reinforce the student's sense of progress. I also believe that the method of encouraging students to lead reviews and teach me the material motivates them to engage with it personally. When they own their learning process, they can develop an accurate understanding of their grasp of the subject that inspires well-founded confidence.
I encourage students to be forthcoming about their challenge areas, note them down, and take responsibility for tracking their progress. This begins with the first meeting and continues to the last session. I also keep track of their challenges and progress by tailoring lessons that address their needs and developing assessments that test specific challenges. As this is a continual process, I can track and target initial needs that become evident in later sessions.
In the initial stages, I dialogue with my students to gain perspective on what they have had challenges with and what they would like to improve. I can develop a learning strategy that accommodates the student's goals. As we progress, I use mini-assessments and lesson reviews to evaluate the student's progress toward the set goals. The outcomes of these assessments and reviews provide information on adapting the lesson topics, pacing, and testing to reinforce the student's strengths and iron out their challenges.
A lesson overview that outlines objectives for that session. A review document tracks the student's progress over the past sessions and includes a short recap of previous sessions. This document is updated at the end of subsequent sessions. If the student is trying to complete a specific task, I include a sample of the task. Where relevant, short video clips or extracts from web sources. Take-away tasks for the student based on the session. The pre-reading task for the next session.
Tutor Reviews
Alika from Singapore
Tutor Quote
To teach is to learn twice over - Joseph Joubert
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