Tuition - Session Planning?

[GoodEvening91]

Hi,

I have recently decided to leave teaching and I'm looking to get into tutoring.

Does anyone who has done it before have any suggestions on planning/resourcing the sessions? I would be looking at KS2 Maths/English and possibly KS3 English. Presumably you give some sort of assessment and look at the topics within the assessment the student struggles with and then just download the resources for those topics from somewhere like twinkl?

Thanks!

[OutDamnedSpot]

I’m not a tutor, but I’d always understood tutoring to be bespoke to the student/s. So your idea of an initial assessment, then targeted work on any areas of need, sounds spot on. I’d be less convinced by ‘then just download resources from twinkl’ because that doesn’t sound very personalised. If I was a parent paying tutoring prices, I think I’d expect more than worksheets off twinkl.

[GoodEvening91]

Can you advise what you’d suggest then? If there are resources ready made on topics you’ve assessed as being needing to be targeted then why would you spend time making them yourself?

if anyone has any other sources of resources they’ve used for tuition other than twinkl that would be much appreciated - also if anyone has any suggestions of where to start with ks3/ks4 English in terms of finding an assessment/resources:

Thanks!

[OutDamnedSpot]

I don’t think I would spent time making resources either. My point is more that - for English at least - it’s less about topics and more about working on particular skills. So if I’d set an initial creative writing assessment (for example), I’d then be working on any issues the pupil had with spelling, punctuation, etc. with the child, not with worksheets, but with their own work.

If you want premade resources for secondary English, there are loads on teachit and litdrive. Assessments would presumably come from the exam boards’ websites.

[MrsHamlet]

I've tutored GCSE English. I'm paid for my expertise, not for the resources I use.
As a PP says, there are endless resources available but anyone can get hold of those. The skill is in knowing where the weaknesses are, what they look like in an exam setting, and how to fix them.

[GoodEvening91]

Thanks both. I agree in that having those expertise is the most important thing, but also surely you'd have to have some resources to hand to guide the session? Or Mrs Hamlet are you saying you just download exam papers and go through those with them? How do you plan your sessions?

[MrsHamlet]

I only ever tutor GCSE and A level and I work with the mark schemes and then any texts I fancy.
I don't have resources in the sense of worksheets. One to one, we work together with a text.