Let’s talk 11plus private tuition lessons and what a good lesson should look like.
I was visited the other day by a parent who wanted to see what a child’s lesson/work might look like with us at Maze. It made me really think about the importance of this and the need for parents to really get value for their money when investing in 11plus tuition for their child.
As a class teacher my background training and experience has given me the skills and knowledge to adapt, innovate and create to produce lessons that challenge support and interest my students. It can become all too easy for tutors to fail to provide the same and more opportunities in private lessons.
I have seen many other tutor’s lessons and have extensively researched what will make a good lesson for my students. Each 11plus tuition provider will have different lessons and ways of presenting your child’s work to them, be that through a computer based learning programme, a series of worksheets, Bond or CGP books, or specially designed programmes.
Different approaches will of course appeal to different children as needs, learning styles and ability ranges too. It is important that your child enjoys and responds well to the teaching style and programme of learning that their tutor provides. If they’re bored, maybe they’d benefit from group tuition and a livelier and more innovative approach. If they’re getting frustrated with the work as it’s too hard, they might need a tutor who is willing to adapt to their needs, change the pace and alter the level of the work accordingly. Often parents are looking for progress to be made in the shortest time span possible, naturally tuition is an extra outgoing and so it’s worth looking for a tutor who will teach to your child’s strengths and weaknesses, only working on areas that your child is weak on to maximise and quicken progress.
Throughout your search for an 11plus tutor I think it’s a great idea to ask questions about the materials they use, the best tutors will draw on a variety of different sources to give the children a wealth of experience of different questions types. They will also teach in a variety of ways mirroring your child’s class teacher at school’s approaches. Look for different types of resources in the classroom environment, cubes, number lines, teaching clocks, whiteboards etc that could be used to appeal to different children’s learning styles. And ask the question- ‘what would you do if my child didn’t understand something included in their lesson/homework?’
A very common problem parents meet face is how their child is treated in tuition when they don’t know the answer, can’t do their homework or haven’t understood a topic. Too often I hear from children and parents, that tutors claim that they ‘should know it’. The pace isn’t adapted, no one to one support is provided and no alternative ways to teach the concept are delivered. I feel so sorry for the children who are put in this awful position. How must they feel when the person they’re looking to, to help them, won’t?
Ultimately as a tutor it is our job to teach a child, regardless of ability, learning style or ability as that that is the job we are employed by parents to carry out. I am not under any impression that a child may not have understood because they weren’t listening as children can be distracted easily. But all children have a right to learn. This way you can also gauge how adaptable a tutor might and is able to be.
At Maze we hold our students interest by playing educational games, we complete problem solving activities, investigate patterns, we interact with our students and go to great lengths to find out what works for them.
It’s important that children are happy and comfortable with their tutor so I hope this information has helped you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me for further information and support – [email protected]