Alex

I am a qualified secondary-school teacher, an award-winning writer, and a writing Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, at both the universities of Glasgow and Stirling. I visit schools, libraries and festivals giving workshops, and am currently working in universities helping students with all aspects of their academic writing.

Tutoring Experience

I'm an experienced teacher who graduated from Jordanhill in 2010 and taught at Bo'ness Academy, Falkirk High and St. Mungo's High as an English teacher, as well as with Barnardo's, Falkirk, motivating young people either in care or in danger of going into care to re-engage with learning. I've been offering English tuition since 2011. I'm very familiar with SQA guidelines and Curriculum for Excellence strategies and techniques, particularly after training at Jordanhill and teaching in Falkirk schools. My students feel comfortable and relaxed enough to participate fully in my tutorials, and gain confidence and encouragement. I have tutored many students at both National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher English with excellent results. I have led curriculum development sessions for colleagues on National 4 and 5, and Active Learning. I also have experience of teaching online via Skype to pupils abroad. I have many learning resources to help students with their English, including resources on those texts which students may study at National 5 and Higher. I am extremely good at helping students to understand poetry, short stories, drama and novels - and to help them understand the significance of the themes. I have also worked as a Creative Writing Mentor with the Scottish Book Trust and Writer in Residence at Castlebrae Community High School in Edinburgh, for the Craigmillar Literacy Trust, and delivered a series of workshops at the National Library of Scotland to teachers. Currently I work as a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund at the University of Stirling helping students with all aspects of academic writing. Prior to this I did the same at the University of Glasgow. I am therefore able to work with students preparing for university, or to assist with any academic writing, for which I have many excellent resources.

Tutoring Approach

I teach to the needs of the individual pupil, and the aim is to give them confidence in their own ability; to realize what is being asked of them, and to help them to achieve it. I specialize in critical essay writing skills, creative writing, close reading and comprehension, and the understanding of set texts in poetry, drama and prose. I have many learning resources to help students with their English, including those texts which students may study at National 5 and Higher. I am very familiar with texts and good at helping pupils to understand poetry, short stories, drama and novels. I am continually writing my own resources to assist the students with whatever texts they are studying in class. It was commented in my end of year Report from Bo'ness Academy that I 'have a talent for creating interesting and engaging tasks for pupils.' I often use pictures, images and sounds to help pupils engage with their story-writing for example. More recently, I have been teaching university students how to improve their essay writing skills and with all aspects of their academic writing. This work (via the Royal Literary Fund as a Fellow) involves helping students in all subjects across the university, assisting them with both critical thinking and essay-writing.