Donal

Thank you for looking at my profile. I became a teacher because during primary and secondary school I was expected to learn the same way as everyone else. If I didn't do well in class because I didn't understand the topic or subject due to the way it was being taught, I was told that I needed to try harder or I hadn't studied hard enough. Over time I lost interest in many of those subjects. Maybe I was just unlucky but sadly, this seems to be the case for many children I have taught. I value creativity, patience, encouragement and believe that it is very important to remember that children, adults included, learn in different ways.

As well as tutoring, I teach technology and engineering lessons in primary schools. I’m currently developing my knowledge around how it can be used effectively to teach English and Mathematics.

I really enjoy horse riding, photography, ultimate frisbee, tag-rugby and swimming. I moved from London to Henley for the countryside, space and horses. I don't own my own but hopefully one day.

Tutoring Experience

I've worked with and taught children since 2011. I started off as a Teaching Assistant, supporting a child with global development delay in English and Mathematics. This led me to qualifying as a primary school teacher, teaching Year 2, Year 4 and working as a supply teacher across the Year Groups. I decided to focus on supply teaching as it provided me with a range of experiences supporting different children's learning, emotional, social and behavioral development. I was also able to add many great activities to my own. My experience includes teaching children with autism, ADD and ADHD.

If you have any questions about my experience or you would like some ideas on how you could support your child, then please don't hesitate to ask.

Tutoring Approach

I believe that every child has a preferred learning preference, whether it be visual, auditory and / or kinaesthetic. I find that these are not black and white but that there is one which usually stands out above the rest. To be an effective teacher, it is very important that I understand a child's preferred way of learning and create activities that are based on this. For example, should a child I am teaching struggle with writing out formal methods because they don't fully understand place value or get muddled up with the process, then we could focus on mental methods and activities involving, Numicon, dice and cards to strengthen this core knowledge. Adapting games like 'Go Fish' is a great way of helping a child to recall their times tables and develop their mental agility. My experience has taught me that it is important to make abstract methods and learning concrete, which can be done in similar ways and with real life examples.

If a child I teach is dyslexic, then I might focus on helping them to recall the sound a word makes and how the word looks as a whole, rather than reading the individual letters and blending the sounds together. I've also found that using cartoon making apps can be a very positive way to help children construct stories and think about the core aspects of 'who, what, when and how'. This works well with children who have a preference for visual learning. If a child didn’t like reading for whatever reason, then to increase their enjoyment, I might use audible books or invite them draw pictures that depict the parts of the book that they did like, with some captions.

I really enjoy creating engaging and fun activities and working one-to-one means that I can dedicate all of my time to that child. I believe that a good rapport between a child and their teacher, helps to increase the child's confidence and engage with their learning. Even those subjects they don't enjoy!

My fees are £30 for ten lessons and the first time we meet is of course free.