A math ​tutor from Doonside.

What makes a good teacher

I consider that a good teacher is the one who doesn't stop his/her own learning process. I have actually always been an investigative person, that is the feature of a man of science. I have been both a learner and a teacher, and I have invested much quality time, effort, and finances into my own education. Years of physics and maths lessons, physics investigation and lab work have transformed me a lot more into one. Therefore, it should come as not a surprise the fact that I have a really scientific approach to teaching. Here is what I mean by that.

Student’s opinion really matters

The main aspect of the scientific method is that of experimentation. This is the step which ensures quality to the scientific openings: we did not only consider this could be a great idea, but instead we tried it, and it did work. This is the ideology I prefer to employ in my teaching. Regardless if I assume that a particular way to explain a subject is bright, or simple, or interesting does not actually matter. What important is what the student, the recipient of my clarification, thinks of it. I have a really different experience against which I judge the advantage of an explanation from the one my students get, both as a result of my greater education and experience with the theme, and simply due to the differing grades of involvement we all have in the subject. Therefore, my judgement of an explanation will not often match the scholars'. Their feeling is actually the one that matters.

How observation helps me

This fetches me to the issue of the best ways to set up what my learners' viewpoint is. Again, I seriously have faith in scientific standards for this. This time, I make considerable handle of observation, but done in as much of an objective style as feasible, the same as scientific observation must be performed. I read for opinions in students' bodily and facial expressions, in their conduct, in the manner they verbalise themselves while asking questions as well as when trying to summarise the theme on their own, in the results at applying their recently gained knowledge to solve problems, in the individual character of the missteps they make, and in any other situation that would give me information regarding the efficiency of my approach. Having this information, I am able to adjust my teaching in order to better fit my scholars, so I can easily enable them to comprehend the material I am teaching. The strategy that follows from the above considerations, together with the idea that a mentor should really strive not just to communicate knowledge, but to guide their students reason and understand is the basis of my teaching philosophy. All that I do being a tutor comes from these feelings.