Growing up I found primary school a challenge academically. I tried my best, but I never seemed to get the grades I wanted. I remember one instance when I worked really hard on my handwriting and was very proud only to have my teacher ask why I was so happy with it. She didn’t think it was very impressive.
My SAT results ended up not being very good at all. And because of this I got put in the lower sets at school with low predicted grades. I felt like people didn’t have very high expectations of me in school.
This all changed when I went to secondary school. I was a D grade student but my parents offered me £5 for every grade A I got. In the span of 3 weeks I was a straight A grade student! The money was a great reward but what I think really inspired me was that my parents believed I was a capable of getting an A. Before then I didn’t think this was in the picture for me. Having someone believe in me and my potential made me in turn believe in my own potential. From then on, I did amazingly in school and carried on getting A’s. That’s why, decades down the line, a big part of the way I teach my students is to inspire them first and make them aware of their potential. To have a teacher that believes in them and supports their journey can make a huge difference in their success.
I, myself had a tutor for maths as a child. I struggled with the subject because I couldn’t remember the rules. But having someone to explain the wider context of why these mathematical rules were that way really helped me gain a clearer understanding of the subject and allowed me to work out the logic instead of trying to remember what seemed like random facts.
When I did maths at A level, I found it significantly harder. Teachers weren’t prepared to meet my learning needs. And I didn’t know my learning needs because I wasn’t diagnosed as dyslexic until the end of my degree aged 20. Lectures were a huge struggle because, as I’m sure any dyslexic reading this will know; reading what’s on a board and writing notes whilst a teacher is talking all at the same time felt impossible.
I knew I loved maths but I just needed some support to understand how to learn in an effective way for me to unlock my full potential. During my degree, I would often have the deeper insight and gain an understanding of what the coursework was aiming to show very quickly and build on those ideas in my own way. But when it came to exams I often fell short.
After my diagnosis, I felt as though I had a better insight into why I thought as I did. I became more patient with myself and put strategies in place which enabled me to thrive in my professional life.
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