Jessica

Hello, I`m Jess and I’m a recent graduate from Durham University with a first class degree in English literature and German. I’m also very excited to begin studying for my master’s in English literature at St. Andrews University in September. I’ve been a tutor for two years and I look forward to training as a teacher when I finish my studies. When I’m not reading or talking about books, I love being outside; climbing, mountaineering, walking my dog, or working towards my mountain leader qualification.

English has always been my favourite subject and I’ve been an avid reader since I was very young. However, when it came to my school exams I realised I needed to make some changes to my preparation and revision in order to turn my passion for my subject into the high grades I was aiming for. As a result, I really got to grips with practice papers and mark schemes and I received 10 A* GCSEs along with two As and one A* at A level. I’m very keen to share my love of English with my students, as well as using tools such as collaborative essay planning and detailed feedback to maximise their hard work and make sure they feel confident going into the exam room.

Thanks to my academic and tutoring experience, I`m very familiar with most exam boards, particularly Edexcel, OCR, AQA, CIE, and Cambridge IGCSE, as well as the majority of set texts for these specifications.

Availability: I`m very flexible - ideal for anyone wanting to supplement their schoolwork and get ahead over the summer holidays. I`ll be starting a master`s degree in September, but the nature of the course means that I will remain flexible for the next academic year as well.

Willing to travel: 50 miles

Experience: My main focus is building confidence and creating a friendly atmosphere in which students feel comfortable sharing or trying out new ideas. I’m very keen to tailor my lessons to my student’s specific challenges and individual learning style, but here are some examples of methods that past students have found helpful and enjoyable:

When preparing for exams, I know I’ve done my job when the student feels confident walking into the exam room. To achieve this, sessions tend to follow a pattern of collaborative planning and detailed feedback. For example, we might plan an essay question together, making sure to hit the assessment objectives, and the student might write this up as homework. In the next session we would go over the homework, focussing on where to improve and the successful elements to replicate next time.

I’ve also had the pleasure of helping many students with generally increasing their confidence in English. This is often centred around a topic the student is finding particularly challenging at school - my aim here is to provide support and encouragement to aid understanding. Alternatively, lessons can be based on a book chapter or short story. We could then use the text as a starting point for creative writing, for example a ‘what happens now?’ exercise, as well as working with interactive comprehension aids such as story maps and character profiles.