Lizzie

I am a twenty-five year old English Literature and Drama graduate from the University of Birmingham, where I achieved a 2.1 in my Joint Honours degree, in addition to consistent A* grades across both GCSE and A level. I have had one year's experience as a Trainee English teacher at a secondary school in Birmingham: Ark Boulton Academy, and approx 2 years experience as a private tutor.

Paired with my love for literature, I have a passion for performing arts; I work professionally as a composer, lyricist, singer and actress, and have been involved in numerous musical theatre productions! Recently, I graduated with a Distinction in my MA in Music Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

My motto in life is to always "spread a little sunshine", therefore every task I undertake will undoubtedly be accompanied by a smile!

Tutoring Experience

I had the most rewarding and inspiring year teaching at Ark Boulton Academy. Fresh out of university, I was ready for my next challenge; after initially applying for a Teaching Assistant post, the school were so impressed by my interview that they offered to create a new position for me – as a trainee teacher in the English department. I thus recieved initial training in the first term (via training sessions and observation), and subsequently began the gradual process of teaching my own classes. By the second term, I was teaching five of my own KS3 classes completely independently, and assisting in multiple KS4 classes. During my time at Ark Boulton, I also provided one-on-one support for struggling GCSE students, held daily intervention classes for ‘New Arrival’ EAL year 7 students (whom I was essentially teaching to read/speak in English), led, organized and independently assessed the year 11 Speaking and Listening exams, and was responsible for creating and coordinating numerous Literacy resources.

In 2019-2020, I worked as a GCSE English tutor for 6 months, teaching a year 11 student one-to-one in weekly sessions. I had amazing feedback from both the student and his parents; in one particular exam, he improved from a level 2 to a level 9! Overall, he went from a level 2 to two level 6s.
This year, I taught another GCSE student - for both English Language and Literature - and was very proud when I discovered that she got level 9s for both!

Teaching Experience:
2019-2021: Approx 2 years GCSE English tutoring.
2017-2018: One academic year teaching multiple KS3 classes (year 7 & year 8) – set 1 to set 4.
(Voluntary) one-to-one tuition of a year 8 student with behavioural problems/safeguarding concerns. I tutored him for his year 8 ‘Allegory Assessment’; after just 5 lessons with me his work progressed from a U grade to a Level 4/5.
Two terms supporting KS4 (year 10 & year 11) classes – set 1 to set 5.
GCSE English Literature & English Language (AQA).
I taught a 2-hour workshop of ‘Macbeth’ to the set 5 (lowest ability) Year 11s; significant improvement of enthusiasm and understanding. Their head of year who entered the classroom around halfway through claimed that my teaching was “absolutely brilliant – I’ve never seen them so engaged”.
One-to-one tuition of a year 10 student (GCSE English Literature: ‘An Inspector Calls’.) One-to-one tuition of an EAL year 11 student (GCSE English Literature: ‘Macbeth’ & ‘Jekyll and Hyde’.

Tutoring Approach

As a recent student myself, I understand how important it is to make academia interesting. Throughout my three years of valuable teaching experience, my approach was always to treat each student as an individual, and to make the content I was teaching relatable to a younger audience. I also always strive to make my lessons versatile, productive and fun, which I achieve through my friendly, bubbly personality and exploration of different teaching methods (e.g. ranging from colourful 'quote boards', breaking down essay writing basics to hot-seating different book/play characters).