Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, relate to others, set their own goals and solve problems.
My cupboards are full of different types of books and worksheets for children – not only of different ages and abilities, but for those who learn in different ways. One of the benefits of private, one to one tuition is that I can structure the lesson entirely to the student’s needs.
One of my Year Four students is constantly challenging me to keep lessons exciting and engaging, as well as hands on. Last week we took his current obsession – paper aeroplanes – and turned it into a fast paced hour, which saw us measuring distances, writing decimal numbers, converting measurements, using column addition, working out averages and then converting data to a graph. We had so much fun playing with our planes and working out whose was best that the whole lesson flew by!
This student isn’t going to change his opinion about maths overnight but, over time, more lessons where he enjoys applying his knowledge and building on it, will increase his confidence. Confidence is a key factor in a student’s ability to learn. I work with my pupils, both to increase their knowledge and confidence, as I show them what they can achieve.