Rebecca

My teaching and tutoring ethos centres around tailoring my lessons to suit individual learners. I aim to do this by working with the learner to identify areas in which they feel they require help and working towards realistic goals so that they feel they have achieved real progress. I am particularly passionate about the importance of contextualising concepts in chemistry. From experience, I have noticed that traditional teaching often lacks this, and a lot of students lose enthusiasm because they cannot see a connection between what they are learning, why it is important and how it relates to the `real world`. I believe that engagement with the subject material is crucial for students to attain a deeper understanding and long-term retention of the subject matter. Additionally I believe strongly in highlighting the links between the three sciences, for instance, the connection between electrostatic forces (in physics) and the reactivity of elements and compounds (in chemistry) in order to establish an appreciation of how the sciences are interlinked.

I also place a large emphasis in my practice on exam technique and improving literacy in my students. For example, by improving students` understanding of command words in exam questions and the use of appropriate terminology in answering these questions. Consequently, I use exam questions commonly as an assessment method so that students can apply their knowledge and also get to grips with the process of answering exam questions and what examiners` are `looking for` in a model answer.

Willing to travel: 20 miles

Experience: I recently graduated from the University of Kent with a distinction-level Master`s degree in Forensic Science in which my primary focus centered on Forensic Chemistry. Prior to that, I graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 1st class honours in BSc Chemistry in 2012 and then worked in schools from 2013 - 2015.

I worked initially as an A level support assistant across the three sciences, and then went on to teach key stage 3 science and Level 2 and 3 BTEC science at an all girls` comprehensive in East London. I began my PGCE (Secondary Science – Chemistry) in September 2014. On my course, I completed my first teaching placement at The Latymer School (a mixed grammar in North London). During the course I developed my pedagogical knowledge with regard to the learning process: how students perceive science;; the importance of contextualisation in learning especially when tackling abstract concepts;; and the common misconceptions that arise when teaching some of the `big ideas` in science with suggestions of strategies to identify and overcome these. I completed a Master`s level assignment on continuity and progression in chemistry and was awarded an A for this work. I hugely enjoyed learning about the pedagogical aspects of chemistry teaching and I feel this has made me better equipped at helping students understand chemistry.

From 2015 onwards, I worked in collaboration with another school in East London and tutored students in A level chemistry and physics both one-to-one and in small classes. I also tutor students privately in GCSE and A level chemistry. My longest standing student recently sat her GCSE in chemistry. Her subject knowledge and literacy in science markedly improved during the course of her tuition. As an example, she went from achieving 19% in a test on chemistry calculations in class (a 3 on the 9-1 scale), to 70% (an 8 on the 3-1 scale) when she retook the exam after our tuition. She recently received her GCSE results, and achieved an 8 in Chemistry. My other students have also made similar progress and it has been a pleasure to help them reach their potential.