Anthony - Stoke-on-Trent tutor





Anthony's profile picture

Information About Anthony:


Personal Description:

At present, I am teaching in Stoke on trent and do home tutoring evenings and weekends.
I enjoy supporting the students in my care on a one to one basis to realise their set targets as prescribed in their in their Education Health Plans or National curriculum . I am a qualified Teacher with experience in teaching students with special educational needs including autism.
My main subject area is Science ( Biology and/ or Biology with Chemistry).
I also work as an examiner, marking GCSE A2/AS Biology, International A'Levels and therefore familiar with preparing students to excel.
In adition, I have professional expertise in teaching students with additional learning needs including Entry Level 1.



Teaching Experience:

Prior to my my current teaching post I tauht at the Hackney Community College for 2 years as a Specialist Visiting Tutor. I have progressed many students to realise their annual targets and so prepared young adults for life.
I have delivered courses in Life Skills, Communication and social engagement as well as Music and Crafts.
I have taught English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) at Entry Level 1 guided learners become confident in their expressive and written English.
In the past, have long term experience as a Teaching Assistant;supporting many Colleague teachers to deliver a range of courses at Primary, Secondary and Further Education Levels.
In Teaching , I progress my students by focusing on small improvements in skills learned day to day by my students and planning around these gains to achieve further goals and success. Working in small groups or on one to one basis with students allows me to effectively communicate with my learners and help meet their needs.
When required, I use Makaton for emphasis and allow as much time as time as my students need to respond. This has reduced feelings of anxiety when responding to questions in some students.
I am skilled at adopting the right teaching style for each student. I seek at all times to empower my students to solve problems by encouraging critical thinking and research. I guide my learners to gain confidence in attaining their targets using a range of classroom and outdoor activities that make them become interested and wanting to know more.
Providing one to one support places me in a key position to emphasize important points. Whole class activities enable me encourage student led initiatives which enable students take ownership of the knowledge.

I have also worked in the past as a paraeducator supporting students with severe to mild learning disability and autism use the i-pad as a learning and communicative tool. I have led my students to express their thoughts and wishes. A myriad of learning opportunities open up daily to learners through active engagement using instructional technology eg. I-Pad, IWB etc.. It has been awesome to be part of generating meaning and the mastery of Life Skills for the disabled by making learning fun.
I have taught students with SEN to read, progressing them from picture recognition to recognise frequently used text and ultimately to read.
I enjoy teaching because it gives me a lot of responsibility and personal satisfaction to have been of help to others.
Safeguarding my learners is a key part or my teaching including managing challenging behaviour. I provide closed optioned of choice and use effective communication to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning leading to a reduction in challenging behavior and related incidents.
I provide training for my support staff and guide them on best practices in supporting learners, leading by example.

Teaching has fascinated me ever since I was posted to teach at Hohoe E.P Secondary as an unqualified teacher on leaving College in 1989.This was my National service. At the time, the school had a large student population with few teachers. On arrival at post, I immediately set to work on innovatively teaching Mathematics and Science with a pupil centred approach to the first year group. This produced independent learners who were able to make good progress through independent study and so produced good exams results and became useful citizens.
My interest in formal teaching started when; I enrolled at the University of Cape Coast to sharpen the teaching methodologies handed down to me by my own tutors. I explored the use of many other teaching strategies by the end of my study. At Deks Preparatory School, I fine tuned the use of student centred strategies that produced very confident learners by exploring students' entry behavior and building on the previous knowledge of students. I encouraged active participation of learners in the teaching-learning process using a lot of hands on activities. This created opportunities for students to change or modify their views. This led to greater understandings and built the confidence of my pupils. These learners went further to apply knowledge gained to differing situations and became great achievers and successful people in the community later in life. I use feedback from learners and my colleagues to make valuable changes that improve my teaching.
Prior to my employment at the Brooks Special School as a Special Needs, Teaching Assistant, I was an accomplished support worker with a good understanding of autism syndrome disorder. This enabled me expertly support the learning of children with severe learning disability and autism, who may exhibit challenging behaviour. On a 1:1 basis I supported the Class teacher interpret the National curriculum in a creative manner using Jolly Phonics, Makaton sign language for emphasis as well as fun and humour. Learners responded positively to instruction by daily doing their routines of work; they maintained longer eye contact and participated in the social and academic processes of the school. I kept pupils with a short attention span on their work by using a 'Now' and 'Next' card to refocus learners on the task with persuasion and time outs when necessary. Learners achieved most of the targets stipulated in their individual Education plans. I have learned to plan the daily activities of learners in such a manner that all daily activities including circle time activities were geared towards realising a set goal of the individual learner.
I supported my Class teacher ensure the welfare of the Pupils by providing expert support to pupils who have epilepsy attacks and with administration of medication. I made sure the learning environment was safe and removed any objects with which pupils may cause harm; and never leaving pupils unsupervised. This resulted in less incidents and happy pupils. Further, on a daily basis, I supported the teacher to provide parents and stakeholders with information on the learners, this kept all aware and supporting the events that affect the pupils. Parents felt respected and involved in the matters of their children. This enabled them share information with the teacher which helped me as a Teaching assistant provide an enabling person centred support which increased the self worth of the learners due to greater independence.
I taught Biology at At Aggrey Memorial Secondary for four years. I made science relevant to my students by pointing out the life applications of the concepts under study. I also used local examples wherever possible. I used outings and field trips to augment the class activities and laboratory work. This made the study of Sciences enjoyable for the students. I am therefore skilled at engaging my students with the Natural world and so generating in them interest and excitement in Science as well as an awareness of the environment. This led to more students opting to do Science. I am accomplished at planning well in advance with stakeholders and requisitioning materials that I would need in good time. I ensured safety in the laboratory by testing out apparatus to ensure its working and to determine how long an activity would take. Also, I prepared pupils in advance with tutorials before any laboratory activity. I crafted my own test Items that were valid and reliable when required.
At Aggrey Memorial I was Form Tutor of Final Year Mixed Class of boys and girls. I encouraged students having difficulty studying and provided help with revision for exams such as extra classes.
Having received training for this with Creative Support in the use of hoisting equipment, I routinely support students with personal care needs in a safe manner that takes the privacy and other preferences of the individual into account this empowered the students to study in dignity and with enjoyment. Parents are also happy to find out that the learning environment is not only stimulating for work but also clean and safe.
I am continually learning skills of boosting pupils' self esteem, confidence and independence. Inexpressing myself non-verbally, I simplify communication by the use of PECS and frequent repetition of words and short phrases rather than long sentences .
The use of a variety of approaches to reach out to pupils has effectively helped diffuse many problematic situations and protected children from undue stress or harm. In this respect, I have used fun and humour to de-escalate pupils or gain the attention of learners rather than the use of physical intervention strategies. My experiences at the Brooks Special School and Hackney Community College have enriched my insights into strategies of inclusion and integration of pupils with Special educational Needs SEN in mainstream schools. In addition to English, I speak and write German and a Ghanaian language.



Tutoring Approach:

I adopt a student centered approach to teaching. This implies what the student has to say or already knows is important! This gives me a foundation to build on.
I probe learners previous knowledge extensively and plan further learning around these. I use testing , hands on work and activities to determine the understanding or level at which my students are performing. I endeavor to make the learning experience fun for the learner and enjoyable; working from the known and familiar facts to the unknown.
The students' intersts and learning targets are always taken into account in planning for learning.
Whenever possible, I employ a Constructivist methodology of teaching to enable my learners apply knowledge to different facts ie. solving problems independently.
I use discussions widely and in my class the pupil is King.



Map showing Anthony's location

Qualifications:

  • M.Phill. Science Education
  • Bachelor of Science (Biology)
  • Diploma in Education
  • Master Business Administration

Further Information:

Availability:  Weekends / Weekdays (evenings)
Types of Tutoring:   Travels to you
References Supplied?   Yes
Current DBS/CRB Check?   Yes
Additional Languages Spoken:   English, German