Tuition in Practice
Real lessons, real essays, and real teaching decisions.
A look behind the curtain at how students develop interpretations, test ideas, and learn to support their thinking with evidence in their sessions with me. Less about what to think; more about how to think well.
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Hell is Other People
It’s not about going from 29/40 to 40/40. It’s about the confidence, trust, and freedom to do this again and again. That’s where The Traitors came in.
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From Seventy-Seven to Just One
No student wants to hunt through a 77 page specification. What you need is a 1-page map of what’s important. Simpler, but not simplistic.
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One Poem; Many Meanings
People want answers. Actually, they often want THE answer. But the truth is, there are many possible answers: yours begins within you (Jedi hand gestures are optional). My job’s to help you bring it out and shape it.
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From Twenty-Five to Just One
Specifications? They’re useful, but they aren’t written for teenagers. I need to turn that information into something a student can actually use.
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HOW many?
Effective revision? Less reading, less highlighting, more REMEMBERING and THINKING.
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Are You Setting Yourself Up To Fail?
You could be fighting yourself all the way if your question is unhelpfully worded. Here’s a worked-through example of how to make it a question you WANT to answer.
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The Subtle Art of ‘Wrangling’* Questions
You’ve probably had this nightmare. The question’s just too broad; or you have too much to say in the time allowed; or there are gaps in your knowledge which mean you were hoping for a ‘kind’ paper.
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Read Before You Revise
I’ve had a sudden realisation why so many people claim that studying A-Level Literature ‘destroyed’ their love of reading. Did they actually ‘read’ anything on their courses, or did they try to ‘revise’ a text first time round?
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Finding Things Shouldn’t Be Homework
The less time students spend hunting down resources and session notes, the more time they can spend thinking about the subject.
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When Students Do The Marking
When students do the marking … they become much better at judging their own work – and how to improve it.