Gary

I am a qualified teacher of Mathematics offering tuition up to A-level, SQA Advanced Higher and beyond.

As I see it private tuition in maths offers you the help, encouragement and support you need to increase your understanding of this important school subject, and should be seen as an investment in your future. I have been told that even in Soviet Russia, despite the obvious emphasis on free state education for all, people would nevertheless hire maths tutors. This was seen as a practical response to the high expectations and competitiveness of the university admissions system.

My aim is to offer a dedicated service to people who want to gain more confidence and skill in maths. I strive to deliver high quality tuition up to SQA Advanced Higher, A level and beyond. I specialise in:

• SQA Higher, Advanced Higher Mathematics
  
• Edexcel A Level Mathematics Pure Mathematics, Further Pure Mathematics
• International Baccalaureate SL/HL AA and AI
• STEP, TMUA, MAT, ESAT for those intending to read Mathematics, Computer Science, or Engineering at university
• UK Maths Trust competition preparation
• 1st year of University Mathematics
• SAT for those seeking a place at a US college or university

I enjoy using my ability to reason and hope to pass on an appreciation for reasoning to the people that I am giving tuition to.

In addition to having worked in education I have also been employed in software engineering.

I enjoy sea kayaking, wild swimming, French cinema, playing backgammon, listening to music, watching TV with Masterchef being my favourite programme to watch.

I live in Edinburgh city centre wth my wife Lorna and our Birman cat Bella.

Tutoring Experience

I have been offering private tuition since 2012 and have helped many tutees to obtain, or surpass, their target grades in SQA and A level exams. In the last 5 years alone I have delivered over 3000 hours of tuition!

In addition I have 4 years classroom experience, and have worked in providing adult education in computing.

Tutoring Approach

As a dedicated teacher, I enjoy teaching at all levels of ability, tailoring my approach to the needs of my tutees. Having a calm and patient manner I enjoy the challenge of helping tutees to understand basic principles in ways that make sense to them. Whether you need help with a specific problem or an explanation of a more general concept I'm here to help. Just let me know what you need assistance with and I'll do my best to provide a clear and helpful response.

Elements of my approach:

• review of basic maths
• practice of routine processes and methods
• discussion of how to approach A/B questions at Higher/A-level
• breaking down complicated maths to simpler ideas
• problem-solving techniques
• encouraging you to have a questioning attitude in your study of maths
• exam technique

Our aim is to work towards creating a time and space where you can talk about and learn maths in a natural way. I ask my tutees to aim high and to that end the focus will always be on you developing as a confident learner.

Joan Boaler in her book Mathematical Mindsets states that “…for the vast majority of children — about 95% — any level of school maths are within their reach.” Further to the point, Nobel prize winner in Physics (1965), Richard Feynman: "I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There's no miracle people. "

With the right support and encouragement to think for yourself you are perfectly capable of learning maths and of being able to obtain a good pass in your exams. So please take this on board and adjust your mindset accordingly.

--

"The one really competitive skill is the skill of being able to learn." Seymour Papert

--

Doing well in maths effectively means becoming better at reasoning. Improving your reasoning ability is a key skill that good tuition should foster.

Since you are looking for a [human] tutor on First Tutors then I expect that you will see the sense of ChatGPT's response to my question (May 2024): "Can an LLM such as chatGPT4 teach people to reason?":

"In conclusion, while an LLM can significantly aid in teaching reasoning by providing interactive, personalized, and immediate educational experiences, it works best as a supplementary tool alongside traditional educational methods and human instructors. This combined approach can offer a well-rounded and effective learning experience."

--

For online tuition I use:

A MacBook Pro, and an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil.

Zoom for screen sharing (I have a pro account and can offer 1 hour without interruption).

Explain Everything (an electronic whiteboard). It's good if you are willing to use the whiteboard to show how you would attempt solutions. One of the advantages of online tuition is that since we share the whiteboard you can see what I'm writing directly in front of you, as I can when you are writing. This means that I can provide commentary on your working; praise things you are getting right, and alert you to mistakes, in effect it gives me some insight into your strengths and weaknesses or misconceptions. The Explain Everything whiteboard also has a laser pointer and this makes it easy to point at and talk about the working on the screen and I encourage tutees to do this. There are apps available for Explain Everything on all platforms.

To aid in the development of understanding I encourage the use of Desmos, GeoGebra, Wolfram Alpha, LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity, and Graphing calculators (I have a Casio FX GC50, and a TI-Nspire CX II).

--

Please enquire about discounts for small group study, and for payment in advance. These discounts when combined can reduce my tuition fee to £32.00 per hour for A-level/Highers. However, groups must be stable and persist over time otherwise the group discount will be withdrawn. Discounts do not apply to Adult/Casual tuition.

--

NB I do not offer fortnightly tutorials

--

Please ensure that you read my terms and conditions which include the details of a late cancellation charge. FEB 24: resource downloads are not available at present. First Tutors are working to restore them. My main T&C is a late cancellation charge of £10 with less than 24 hours notice. And that payment is due within 7 days of a tutorial taking place.

--

Your data

As part of delivering online tuition to you or your family member, I collect certain personal details (contact and education related). I keep them securely on my computer and on iCloud. 

I have no need to share them with any other parties and therefore your privacy will not be compromised.

Any feedback that is shared publicly is shared in such a way that the identity of the individuals involved is not.