MATH: He went very well with the homework. He answered all the long division questions quickly and confidently, only slowing down when faced with divisors larger than 12. This was because he couldn't rely on his memory of the 12 times table. He made one small mistake with one of these questions, but the rest were completely correct (I couldn’t have done better myself). The same goes for long multiplication. For negative and positive addition/subtraction, he needed a quick refresher at the start, but after that, he performed perfectly. The same happened with angles; after a brief review, he worked flawlessly. I was also very happy with his perimeter and area answers. He immediately labelled all the angles and proceeded to plug those numbers into the formulas. Beautiful working out. Overall, I was very happy and impressed with how accurately and swiftly he completed this week’s sheet. We then moved on to his Year 8 textbook. Ahsan expressed that he was a bit unsure about some of the concepts in Chapter 1. He needed a quick refresher on LCM and HCF but performed perfectly afterward. He’s very quick with his times tables, as he could write down factors and multiples with ease. We used the slower, foolproof method of listing all factors/multiples. I plan to introduce him to the quicker method next session. I chose not to this time because the theory behind it (prime factorization) might confuse him. I want him to fully understand and practice the current method before we move on. One of Ahsan’s biggest weaknesses is that he sometimes mixes up concepts, which leads to him getting completely different answers. For example, I’ve seen Ahsan follow some unfamiliar method and asked him about it, which then revealed (I could see) where the confusion came from. We then moved on to square roots and squares. I explained the concepts and worked through a couple of examples. After that, he did very well. He struggled a bit with square roots outside his times tables, but I explained that he could use trial and error by estimating. He understood this quickly and did very well afterward. I was impressed with how accurately he could estimate square roots. For example, for sqrt(441), he guessed 22, which is very close, so he realized it must be a bit smaller, landing on 21 as the answer. We also covered the extension of this: cube roots and cubes. He understood that it was the same concept, just using powers of 3 instead of 2. He caught on quickly and did great. We finished with prime numbers. This was more challenging because it introduced prime factorization, which I didn’t want to dive into just yet. We worked on it together and will definitely focus on it next session. We also practiced LCM problem-solving. He understood how LCM applies to word problems, like figuring out when two cyclists doing laps will meet at the same position. Regular practice will help a lot because problem-solving, especially at the high school level, is about becoming familiar with different types of questions and related concepts. ENGLISH: We briefly discussed and brainstormed the topic of "Should everyone be vegetarian?" It went alright. I think Ahsan can definitely strengthen his English skills by becoming more aware of the world. Watching the news, talking to his parents, and engaging with current events will help expose him to a variety of views and opinions. This exposure will help Ahsan develop strong and diverse perspectives. I was impressed with how many points Ahsan raised and how strongly he felt about mandatory school uniforms. I want to see this level of engagement with every topic we cover. I plan to assign him homework over the holidays focused on understanding different views. For example, topics like the gender pay gap or poverty in third-world countries. Even watching a short YouTube video or reading an article will open his eyes to global issues, which will be very handy down the road. Most of the session was spent rewriting and strengthening his TEEL paragraph. We improved the structure and added more points. Previously, it fell a bit flat and the thoughts weren’t as organized, which made it less effective. With more practice and discussion, he will develop a natural instinct/feel for how to structure his paragraphs.

see Went well

MATH: Ashan did fantastic in Maths today. He did perfectly for his homework. He's mastered long division and rarely makes any errors. He's able to solve simple algebra ( x + 18 = 26 ) and a wide variety of angle questions. He showed that he doesn't have any trouble with these textbook questions. We have started the Year 8 textbook so Ashan stays ahead, which is all he really needs to ace Year 8. Ashan just He breezed through Chapter 1. I would give him a range of questions on the topic to see if he understands the concepts. He had no problems with 'large addition/subtraction', 'large multiplication/division', and 'addition/subtraction of positive/negative numbers'. I'll give him a few questions so he ENGLISH: We wrote a TEEL body paragraph for why "dogs are better than cats". Ashan came up with several strong points and I helped Ashan structure the paragraph. Next time, I will test Ashan with a better, more thought-provoking topic. Ashan had a lot of good points about why "young adolescents should not have social media accounts".

MATH: As I mentioned, Ashan did really good in Maths today. I hope this helped him because he might've needed a confidence booster after the exam. Parents reported that they have seen him work hard and improve. Things happen and we have to move on. However, it's really important to reflect and learn. Ashan will ask his teacher if he can review his exam paper. Hopefully, I'll be able to look through it and see where he struggled. He got a bit stuck with the hardest problems (missing blanks in big addition/subtraction) (adding/subtracting negative/positive numbers) but he just needs a bit of practice. He only needed a short explanation to solve these problems. ENGLISH: Ashan had a long day at school today and seemed really tired. He did okay in English but wasn't as talkative as usual. Nevertheless, I was able to provoke a lot of good responses from him.

MATH: Ashan seems much more confident and strong in Maths. He has always been quite strong with calculations and conventional questions and I'm very happy with this. It seems that he did well for these questions in the exam. I've also spent quite some time on angles, giving him hard conceptual questions. He knows what to do with the standard angle questions in textbooks and he's breezed through them. Overall, I am very happy with how he reported his exam performance. Obviously, I hope he hasn’t made a lot of silly mistakes or gotten things mixed up. But we went through a few questions that he could remember and I was very happy with how he explained his thinking and solved the problem. ENGLISH: I'm planning to allocate time for English starting next lesson. I was happy with how he reported his performance in the English exam. However, especially with English, that's something I need to review myself. I'll assign Ashan a writing task next lesson. I think Ashan has demonstrated, both with me and in the exam, a strong understanding of the texts.

MATH: Ashan struggles with harder, more conceptual problems, but once he really gets the hang of them, he's usually fine. I think he may still have difficulty with advanced perimeter and area problems. We've been working on this, and I think he'll get the hang of it soon. With algebra, sometimes when Ashan gets stuck (if the equation is unfamiliar), he falls back into bad habits and starts doing random manipulations. However, he's definitely improved a lot and has always been good at working backwards mentally. With more practice and familiarity, he'll become much more solid with all types of equations. I was very impressed with how Ashan handled decimal multiplication and long division. At first, he did it incorrectly, but he clearly explained his thought process and what his teacher taught him. I immediately noticed the misinterpretation and re-explained the idea. Ashan caught on to the concept well and quickly. I'll assign him homework and revisit this next lesson to reinforce it.

MATH: Very good with simple angle questions that require you to find the missing angle using 90, 180, or 360 sum. Solid with FUN angle questions. At first, he got a bit stuck and made a few mistakes. Then we went through a step-by-step working out so Ashan doesn't get confused (1. F or U or N 2. C or A or Co 3. same or sum to 180). Strong at mental algebra and equations. He is able to work backwards mentally and find the answer.

MATH: Struggles with harder, more conceptual problems. He needs to stay calm and go through the concepts he's learnt. He has a bad habit of making up concepts or rules. For example, he would state that these three random angles must sum to 180. This usually happens when the question isn't as obvious and requires application/understanding of concepts. Ashan seems to prefer just applying formulas, which he does well. However, he needs to understand the intuition and theory behind concepts. I will ask him more about his thinking process and how he gets these conclusions so I can help him. This is what I was aiming towards with angles, but with the upcoming exam we had to leave that aside. He's still weak with difficult perimeter and area problems that require you to split the shape into two. But he should be fine with basic perimeter and area problems, especially as they have access to a formula sheet.