Alaa

I have recently passed my Master’s degree in Education Policy and Society at King’s College London. During this time, I was working as a supply teacher teaching in different schools across London and Essex. Prior to this I finished a year’s employment at Hilltop Primary School (year 4) in Wickford. I trained with Essex and Thames Primary SCITT and graduated in July 2017 with a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and Qualified Teacher status (QTS), qualifications for which I was graded as outstanding.
Education surrounded me from a young age and I had the privilege of seeing its results from different perspectives, since my mother is a head teacher and my father a university professor. In 2007 I gained my Egyptian B.Sc. and B.Ed. I worked at a school in Egypt for three years, teaching children in Foundation and Key Stage One. I followed this with an Egyptian PGCE in Psychological Health in 2008. This has given me a deeper insight into the importance of children's mental health and how this impacts on their learning. As a result, one of my strengths as a teacher is meeting each student's unique needs by developing a personal understanding of each learner. I achieve this by seeing and assessing each child as an individual and then differentiating lesson plans to accommodate all learners.

Tutoring Experience

Simply Education
Zen Education
Teaching in different schools in London and Essex across all key stages. These opportunities have provided me with a different perspective on how education policies are approached differently in the regions. It also gave me tools for dealing with difficult circumstances under the pressure of time.
Hilltop Primary School, Wickford
Teaching year 4 in this school, and by the end of year, all children in the class achieved their expected level /or above. In year 4 the behaviour was challenging as there were many children who came from disadvantaged backgrounds. I planned new methods and approaches to manage this behaviour, as well as preparing regular meetings with their families. In the last term of this academic year, I covered all classes in key stage 2 which has prepared me for the next phase of my career. I also attended all CPD (Continuing Professional Development) meetings that the school organised to develop and enhance teaching performance as well as the impact on children’s academic achievements.

Fairhouse Primary School, Basildon
The school was graded Good by Ofsted. I took part in creating mid/long term plan for the year 4 group as the school was short staffed at that time. This is besides the regular planning of lessons. I also planned and monitored interventions for a particular child with SEN. It was challenging at some points to teach a class of 30 with no one-to-one support for those with SEND. However, by creating a strong bond and a good understanding of their needs, it was manageable to create a calmer atmosphere for the whole class.
The Willows Primary School, Basildon
Here I completed my teacher training program. This was my first placement and the majority of my teaching was in Year 2 class. I graduated with outstanding, achieving an excellent performance in meeting all the teachers’ standards.
Merrylands Primary School, Laindon
I finished my second placement in this school, teaching year 4 class, where my research project for my PGCE was mainly conducted. There, I examined whether embedded or structured grammar teaching is more beneficial to pupils’ progress in writing.
Al-Masai Al-Mashkoura School, Shibin el Kom, Menofia Governorate, Egypt
I taught in foundation stages. The teaching was mainly focused on organising activities and monitoring progress in order for children to meet the seven different areas of learning and development.

Tutoring Approach

questioning plays one of the most crucial parts in developing learners’ cognitive and thinking skills. As a teacher, I believe that it is my responsibility to ensure that questions in my class are effective and follow a higher order level of thinking to encourage all learners. I believe that independent learning should be developed where pupils have ownership of their learning. This can be achieved by gradually moving pupils from teacher-scaffolding into self-scaffolding. In my practice I endeavour to give children the opportunity to decide their next learning whilst fulfilling the requirements of the National Curriculum. Moving pupils into the self-scaffolding stage could be linked and embedded through the ideology of the growth mindset, where learners believe that their intelligence can be transformed through effort. These are theories that I have often implemented throughout my planning and practice, and which have shaped both my thinking processes, and the style in which I teach.