Rosemary L - Tutor in Sea Point
I have a Bachelor of Business Science degree, Masters in Business Science (Economics) degree, and a PGCE (SP & FET) all from UCT. The PGCE is a Post Graduate Certificate in Education, specialising in teaching Mathematics and Economics to high school learners. In other words, I am a qualified teacher too, and so I am trained to identify particular areas of Mathematics that learners are struggling with and how best to help them succeed. Prior to becoming a high school teacher, I worked as an Economist doing research for the public and private sector. I have many years teaching experience, having taught Economics to undergraduate and postgraduate students at UCT for roughly 6 years, and more recently, teaching Mathematics and Economics to Grade 7 to 12 learners. I have been employed as a Maths teacher at both government and private schools, as well as most recently at an online school, teaching Maths to Grade 8 – Grade 12s. I have been doing private tutoring of Maths, Economics and running SAT Preparation classes for the last 5 years. I therefore am experienced in tutoring learners online -mostly using Zoom, but also Skype and Google Hangouts. My teaching philosophy focuses primarily on building confidence in my learners. I am a patient, calm and caring educator, who takes a genuine interest in all her learners academic progress. I try to make my lessons fun and interactive, and I encourage you to ask as many questions as you need to in order to fully grasp a concept. In my opinion, if a learner hasn’t understood a concept properly, it is usually the teacher’s fault for not explaining that concept in a way the learner can understand and relate to. I also don’t like to focus on the rote learning of Maths (or Economics) “rules”. In my opinion, if you understand WHY and HOW things are done the way they are, it enables you to link Maths concepts, and the “rules” will become second-nature to you. I enjoy scuba-diving, fishing (catch and release) and gardening.
Tutor basics
Teaching places
My Home, Students Home, and Online
Travelling distance
Rosemary will travel 10km from Sea Point, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Languages spoken
Rosemary speaks English
Experience
Contract Economics Researcher, The World Bank
I was contracted to research and co-author Chapter 6 in a World Bank publication on tobacco control policy. The book focuses on the evolution of tobacco control policy in six countries and how economic interests, political and social change, the media, public relations and public pressure all have a role to play in promoting policies to curb tobacco use.
Junior Economics Researcher, PROVIDE Project, Western Cape Dept. of Agriculture
The Provincial Decision Making Enabling (PROVIDE) Project at the Western Cape Department of Agriculture was a national project to facilitate decision-making at national and provincial level by supplying policy makers with quantitative policy information. The project involved the development of a series of databases (Social Accounting Matrices/SAMs) and concomitant economic models (Computable General Equilibrium/CGE models) to be used in policy analysis. My primary responsibility was the preparation of South African trade data for inclusion in the SAM. The objective was to create a sub- matrix in the SAM giving the custom’s value of imports and exports respectively by commodity for multiple trade accounts.
Tutor, School of Economics, UCT
I was responsible for tutoring microeconomics and macroeconomics to undergraduate students in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town. I also assisted with the marking of exam essays.
Head Tutor for the Econometrics Honours Course, School of Economics, UCT
My primary responsibility was to assist the postgraduate Honours students at their Econometrics computer practical each week. This required a thorough knowledge of the econometrics material taught at Honours level, as well as the econometrics programme E-views. In addition, my duties included explaining the econometric theories that were discussed in lectures, whenever students requested such assistance from me, as well as the marking of term tests, projects and the exam. In the first semester of 2006, I initiated and ran the Econometrics “Hotseat”, where students could obtain additional assistance with the course.
Senior High School Mathematics & Economics Teacher, Cape Town Torah High School
Cape Town Torah High (CTTH) is a private, dual curriculum Jewish High School where learners are taught Jewish Studies together with the full range of General Studies. CTTH matriculants’ school-leaving certificate reflects an internationally-accredited curriculum which complies with, and is recognised by, ACS WASC (Accrediting Commission for Schools, Western Association of Schools and Colleges), AdvanceED (USA Accreditation Boards) and the South African Matriculation Board. Students graduate with an American High School Diploma, which along with their SAT Results (showing they have attained the required passing score) and/or their acceptance letter to an American University, are able to convert this International Qualification to a South African Matric by sending their documents to the Matriculation Board after graduation. From Grade 10 onwards, all General Studies courses are online-based and taken through the University of Nebraska High School (UNHS) via their online portal. As a teacher at CTTH, I was responsible for teaching all Mathematics courses, Economics, and a number of elective courses. This involved acting as a “guide at the side”- mentoring, facilitating and teaching learners as they progressed at their own pace through their individualized course selections. My role primarily involved one-on-one or small group interaction with learners, specifically when they required “live” support in order to understand their online course material or needed to have it explained to them in more detail. My experience was that, without exception, all learners required significant amounts of assistance, explanation, and actual teaching from me for their Mathematics courses; however, they generally required less support for their elective courses. In addition, I was responsible for assisting, pre-marking and providing feedback on learners’ unit evaluations and projects (formative assessments), prior to their online submission to UNHS for final grading. I also proctored and oversaw learners when they wrote UNHS tests for their courses in order to ensure the security and integrity of the process. The Mathematics courses that I was responsible for teaching at CTTH included: First Year Algebra 1; First Year Algebra 2; Business Maths; Second Year Algebra 1; Second Year Algebra 2; Geometry 1; Geometry 2; Precalculus I: Analytic Geometry and Algebra; and Precalculus II: Trigonometry. I was also heavily involved in the preparation programme and teaching of students from CTTH and Herzlia High School who were writing the PSAT and SAT. I have completed a number of courses through the American College Board to this effect.
Maths Teacher (Teaching Practice 2), Bishops Diocesan College
At Bishops I was given the responsibility of taking a group of Grade 10 boys who had just had to switch to Mathematical Literacy. I was solely responsible for all aspects of their teaching, including the learning design of their course material., lesson planning and scheduling, preparation of classwork and handouts, and the setting and marking of their tests. I also set and marked their September exam. I was also given the opportunity of teaching the Environmental Sustainability section of the Economics course to the Grade 12 learners.
Maths Teacher (Teaching Practice 1) Trafalgar High School
I taught Mathematics to the Grade 10s for the entire teaching practice period. The sections I covered were functions and a portion of trigonometry. I also taught a section on financial maths to the Grade 12 Mathematical Literacy students.
2. Part-time Junior High Mathematics Teacher and Facilitator, Valenture Institute (Independent Contractor)
My role as a teacher and facilitator at Valenture Institute (VI) involved teaching live online Mathematics sessions to two groups of Junior High students (49 students in total) using Zoom video-conferencing software. I was also responsible for marking and grading the Junior High, Foundation Phase International GCSE and Higher Phase GCSE Mathematics students’ weekly formative assessments. Finally, I had to be available during assigned ‘office hours’ to help individual Junior High students who were struggling with Mathematics concepts we had covered in class that week. Reason for Leaving: Unfortunately, I decided to make the tough decision to leave VI. The highlight, and most rewarding part of my day was undoubtedly my ‘office hours’ when I worked closely with three dedicated, determined young men who had had horrendous experiences with Mathematics and Mathematics teachers at their previous primary school in Joe Slovo township in Port Elizabeth. They were lucky enough to have a benefactor enrol them at VI, and I was astounded by how giving them personalised, patient and reaffirming Mathematics teaching/assistance rapidly helped to transform their fear of Mathematics, bolster their overall confidence, and improve their grades in Mathematics. I also thoroughly enjoyed teaching my other two Junior High classes, and engaging with my fellow teaching colleagues. Whilst I believe that VIs novel approach to transforming (online) secondary education shows potential, the reality of working for a rapidly-growing, profit-driven, online start-up school was something that I had never experienced before, and it became clear that my values and vision regarding education were misaligned with those of the company, and hence I felt that working for VI was not really a good fit for me and something I could not continue with.
Education
Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) - UCT
I completed my PGCE (Senior Phase and FET) with subject specialties in Economics, Mathematics, and Mathematical Literacy. I obtained distinctions in the Economics Methods course and the Teaching Methodology/Teaching Practice course.
Bachelor of Business Science (Honours in Economics) - UCT
Masters in Business Science (Economics) - UCT
I completed my Masters in Business Science (Economics) degree at UCT, achieving a distinction for the dissertation component of my degree.
Subjects taught
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Economics
I am a qualified and experienced teacher who completed a Bachelor of Business Science degree with Honours in Economics in 2001, and a Master of Business Science degree in Economics in 2006. My second major is in Psychology. I also hold a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) specialising in teaching Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, and Economics to Senior Phase and Further Education and Training students. I completed all 3 of my qualifications at UCT. My love of teaching began whilst I was at UCT. I was actively involved with the tutoring of undergraduate and postgraduate Economics students for over 6 years, and was the Head Tutor for the Honours Econometrics module for five years. I also assisted with the marking of tests, exams and projects. Having completed my Masters Degree, I worked as an Economist for a number of years doing academic research and also doing economics consulting work. However, the teaching profession was calling me and so I decided to take a break from the economics consulting work in order to register for a PGCE, which is the required qualification to become a teacher. During my teaching diploma I specialised in teaching Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, and Economics to high school learners. I received a distinction for both of my teaching practicals, and was rated within the top 5% of students by my supervisors. I have worked in both public and private schools, which means I have a thorough knowledge of the requirements for NSC, IEB and Cambridge AS and A-levels. I have always been a patient, caring and compassionate educator who takes a great interest in her learners' progress and in their mastery of the subject. My enthusiasm for teaching and my ability to explain difficult concepts translates into a deeper understanding of the topic by my learners, resulting in a greater sense of capability, more positive outlook and significantly improved grades in my learners. My greatest sense of achievement comes from helping learners who are struggling with a subject, building their confidence, understanding and technique in the subject, and then watching them excel. I have a particular gift for working with students who have learning disorders, especially dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADD/ADHD, as well as learners with developmental disorders, particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Having said that, and knowing the importance of understanding a learner's diagnosis, I feel very strongly that a learner should not let these diagnoses define themselves. That only leads to a sense of despondency, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and prevents a learner from what they are truly capable of achieving.
Rosemary teaches Economics at High School, University/College, and Adult level(s)
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Business Studies
I am a qualified and experienced teacher who completed a Bachelor of Business Science degree with Honours in Economics in 2001, and a Master of Business Science degree in Economics in 2006. My second major is in Psychology. I also hold a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) specialising in teaching Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, and Economics to Senior Phase and Further Education and Training students. I completed all 3 of my qualifications at UCT. My love of teaching began whilst I was at UCT. I was actively involved with the tutoring of undergraduate and postgraduate Economics students for over 6 years, and was the Head Tutor for the Honours Econometrics module for five years. I also assisted with the marking of tests, exams and projects. Having completed my Masters Degree, I worked as an Economist for a number of years doing academic research and also doing economics consulting work. However, the teaching profession was calling me and so I decided to take a break from the economics consulting work in order to register for a PGCE, which is the required qualification to become a teacher. During my teaching diploma I specialised in teaching Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, and Economics to high school learners. I received a distinction for both of my teaching practicals, and was rated within the top 5% of students by my supervisors. I have worked in both public and private schools, which means I have a thorough knowledge of the requirements for NSC, IEB and Cambridge AS and A-levels. I have always been a patient, caring and compassionate educator who takes a great interest in her learners' progress and in their mastery of the subject. My enthusiasm for teaching and my ability to explain difficult concepts translates into a deeper understanding of the topic by my learners, resulting in a greater sense of capability, more positive outlook and significantly improved grades in my learners. My greatest sense of achievement comes from helping learners who are struggling with a subject, building their confidence, understanding and technique in the subject, and then watching them excel. I have a particular gift for working with students who have learning disorders, especially dyslexia, dyscalculia and ADD/ADHD, as well as learners with developmental disorders, particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Having said that, and knowing the importance of understanding a learner's diagnosis, I feel very strongly that a learner should not let these diagnoses define themselves. That only leads to a sense of despondency, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, and prevents a learner from what they are truly capable of achieving.
Rosemary teaches Business Studies at High School and Adult level(s)