What do you look for in a maths grind?

eamonn4321

I am planning to start offering maths grinds.

I would be very interested to hear your views / experience of what you would want / expect from a course of grinds.

I plan to start with a free planning session with the student and parent, to identify their needs, expectations, strengths and weaknesses, and from this agree a planned schedule of lessons.

My first thoughts are that each week should cover a particular topic e.g. a chapter of the textbook or a full question off the paper, one which they had already covered in class.

The idea would be that the student should review this area upfront and then bring any issues to me so that I can clarify them and we can work through them.

In this way we would work through all topics, and would have to schedule enough lessons to realistically cover them.

The other thought I had was that it would be very useful to cover any current issues that arise in current school maths lessons, in order to clarify any issues before the student gets left behind.

The problem with trying to do both is that it is a lot to cover in one lesson per week, and I think it would not be realistic.

I guess 2 lessons per week would be more ideal but then that becomes very expensive for the parent.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me please? Particularly interested to hear from anyone who has had grinds or who gives grinds.

Many thanks.

gaeilgegrinds

I give grinds. Have never had anything other than success but it takes serious organisation and hard work. 2 a week works but double them up for one and you'll save them money. Also, don't take on too many, I do far fewer now than I did but get far superior results and greater job satisfaction.
Hope that helps.

eamonn4321

Thanks for the insights gaeilgegrinds.

Would you mind sharing your views / strategy on lesson planning, particularly as regards covering the course vs dealing with specific issues that have come up in class this week please?