James

Fully-qualified science and chemistry classroom teacher. Due to a shortage of permanent teaching posts in Glasgow, I am hoping to work as a tutor to support myself as I wait for work to open up. I am keen to support secondary school learners in chemistry, physics and mathematics. I am happy to teach either in person or online.

Tutoring Experience

I have worked as a classroom teacher since 2023, mainly teaching the SQA chemistry courses, ensuring my classes meet the standards for assessments and have had sufficient, targeted revision. I am used to detecting gaps in learning, and providing support and intervention a student needs to improve their skills and confidence in a subject. I have also had some experience in numeracy, maths and physics classes, and am familiar with the course specifications that a pupil in those subjects would be expected to learn for assessments. Before teaching, I studied chemistry, physics and maths in school and university, finally graduating with a 2:1 BSc Hons Chemistry degree.

Tutoring Approach

My approach is shaped from my experience working in the classroom, where I have found my strength as a teacher is in one-to-one mentoring and assisting a student with their work until they can confidently attempt problems on their own. Feedback from colleagues and pupils tells me I have warmth and personality that young people find approachable, a quality I am happy to have as it helps remove possible barriers to accessing learning. I like to ask direct questions in order to get an immediate test for learning gaps, which we can then remedy as we find, before we move on to new content. If given notice and the time to prepare, I would be happy to give a short lesson on a topic in a session: perhaps useful if a student missed a lesson in class or simply didn't understand it the first time. I have past exam papers, some old homework exercises and school assessments, as well as a selection of textbooks to use as practise material and making notes. I am familiar with a range of studying techniques and mnemonic tools a student may find helpful in the long-term, and would be glad to take a learner through them.