The Clara James Approach to learning

Dawn Strachan
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When it comes to learning we are all individuals. The past 20+ years have taught me that no matter our learning style if the child is engaged and relaxed they are more likely to learn. If we just keep giving them the same resources, varied over and over again, all we are doing is giving them one place in their brains to find the information. However, by giving them a variety of resources we can make it more interesting, more relevant, and help them to create multiple memories so that when they need to recall the information, they have more places they can go to in order to find it.If we can boost their confidence as well as their knowledge we will make their life and ours easier.For 20 years now I've been fascinated by different learning styles: ASD, Dyslexia, ADHD. The purpose of this podcast is to share my findings with you, so that maybe what I've learned will be of help to you too. 

  1. 5d ago

    Tutoring and a chat: tutor the child not what you learned in a course

    I was asked recently what I understand about educating children with autism and ADHD. And my immediate thought was: I don't want to know how to teach “a child with ADHD”. I want to know how to teach the child sitting in front of me. Of course training matters. Understanding autism, ADHD, dyslexia and other forms of neurodivergence gives us knowledge, strategies and a much bigger toolkit. But a diagnosis doesn't introduce us to the child. Around 20 years ago, I went into my daughter's school because I thought she might be mildly dyslexic. I was essentially told dyslexia was an excuse for laziness. Around the same time, I volunteered in a classroom with children with ADHD where the approach was largely shouting, control and demanding discipline. Thankfully, we've moved on enormously since then. But I sometimes wonder whether there's another trap we need to avoid: “I've done a course on ADHD, so I know how to teach children with ADHD.” To me, that's a little like saying: “I've worked with a child who has freckles, so I know how to support children with freckles.” We're missing the most important bit. The individual. Two autistic children aren't the same. Two children with ADHD aren't the same. Two dyslexic children aren't the same. One child might thrive with games; another might hate them. One might struggle to write but have incredible ideas verbally. One might need movement; another might need calm and predictability. Training should give us more possibilities to consider, not more assumptions to make. At Clara James, that's what being SEND-informed means to me. Have the knowledge. Build the toolkit. But then get to know the person sitting in front of you. And if something isn't working, don't automatically ask how we can make the child fit the lesson. Sometimes we need to recognise that the lesson needs to change, not the child.

  2. 5d ago

    Tutoring and a chat: creative writing tip

    This one is perhaps for parents as much as it is fore tutors. If you are doing creative writing with someone, having the inspiration is often the hard part especially if it's not something that they can relate to. In this very short chat I talk about a game I have used many times over the years which generally seems appreciated when it comes to the inspiration to get going. Let mw know what you think

  3. Sep 22

    A chat about tutoring: What's your starting point and your goal?

    I've just come off a really interesting conversation with another tutor, and I'm not going to talk about her circumstances because that's her business, not mine. But the conversation reminded me of something. When we talk about growing a tutoring business, I think we sometimes jump far too quickly to how we're going to grow it before we've decided what we're actually trying to build. The fact that two people can both say “I want to grow my tutoring business” and mean completely different things. One might want five more students and an extra £500 a month. Another might want to stop working evenings. Another wants to employ tutors. Another wants to build something they could eventually step away from. Another might want tutoring to replace their salary. Another loves tutoring 20 children a week and doesn't actually want a team at all. Another wants the support and infrastructure of a franchise. None of those is automatically the right answer. Before you decide whether you need Facebook ads, another tutor, a franchise, a course, a new website or anything else, work out what you're actually trying to build.

  4. Sep 22

    Tutoring and a chat: What changes would you make if you were starting again now?

    14+ years ago when I started the business I made so many mistakes. I had NO idea what I was doing! My first mistake was that in my mind I was doing something that would fail, so I kept it quiet so that no one would find out about it when it did! Ultimately that plan did fail and people found out about it and it took off and went from strength to strength. My next mistake was that I never dreamed this would grow beyond one or two students so I kept all the information inside my head which just created issues when I did start to take on more and more students. I've now created a couple of books: 1 for logging my hours, 1 for logging new student information. They're not fancy or flash, but they have saved me hours by keeping all my information compiled into one place. Another mistake was my pricing. When I first started I priced myself at £10/hr including travel to people's homes, resources, preparation, etc (one family even used it as babysitting for the child I was working with and the younger daughter as the mum would head straight out the door and catch the train into London, reassuring me that the babysitter would be there before I left!)  But by undervaluing myself I was undermining my experience, degree, courses I'd taken etc which people probably presumed you got what you paid for when actually I was pouring my heart and soul into building this, so that it didn't fail and people couldn't wouldn't judge me. I think one of the things that I am still working on today is how I present myself to myself and others. I am an expert at saying I am "just a tutor". Is there such a thing! But actually I own a tutoring business that has roughly 12 other tutors working with me. I have written 2 books (not the two mentioned earlier but one on becoming a tutor and one on learning styles), I have created courses, the business is now seeking its first franchisees, we are getting our tutor training accredited to give credibility to the franchisees, but also to those who don't want to work under our business model but still want that reassurance as they get started. Confidence doesn't grow overnight. It's not a decision that you can go to bed tonight and think, I need to be more confident and wake up tomorrow and be that new person. But you can work on it day by day and keep those around you that will support you in this and cheer you on. Finally, change from listening to the voice that asks you: "should you get a proper job?" or "who are you to do that!" to the voice that says "give it a go, because you never know what might happen if you do..."

  5. Sep 19

    Tutoring and a chat: You don't need to be a teacher to be a tutor

    I was chatting to someone this morning and she mentioned that she thought that all tutors were teachers. I've had/ and still have some amazing teachers work with me. I've had others that I couldn't recommend. I have tutors who work with me who are civil servants, teaching assistants, teachers, retired engineers, the list goes on.  But what they have in common is their willingness to learn what support works best for that child, to recognise when they need to explain something differently because what they've just said didn't work, someone who recognises that today's plan needs to go out the window because the child sat in front of you in this instance needs confidence more than they need a challenge. It's a testament to that shared belief that I want to carry forward and build the Clara James Franchise on, not necessarily top qualifications from the most prestigious universities. I know some people will disagree with this, but I hope others will have a similar attitude and belief that we start with confidence and the child sat in front of us in that instant. If you are in any way curious about the franchise, or know someone who might be. Please do pass this on

  6. Sep 19

    Tutoring chat for parents: supporting times tables

    I've just had a lesson with someone working on the times tables. As we started I had a quick chat with the mum about how we can help: simples games to help with remembering them, giving support, but also, possibly most importantly the order in which we support them. I'd thought I'd share my thoughts here. I hope it helps (I actually condensed some of my ideas and the games I play into a book on Amazon. This is the link if you are at all interested: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DM6CB6LV )

  7. Sep 15

    A chat about tutoring: What makes a great tutor?

    When I started tutoring fourteen and a half years ago, I certainly didn’t imagine that one day I would be running a tutoring business with a team of tutors, developing a franchise and thinking quite so deeply about what makes somebody good at this job. Over those years, I’ve worked with a lot of children, spoken to a lot of parents and worked alongside a lot of tutors. And one thing I have become increasingly convinced of is this: Knowing a subject doesn’t automatically make somebody a great tutor. Of course, subject knowledge matters. If you are helping a child with algebra, you need to understand algebra. If you’re supporting a GCSE student with Macbeth, you need to know the text. But tutoring is about what happens when that knowledge meets the individual child sitting in front of you. And that requires something more.

  8. Sep 15

    A chat about tutoring: Who are you?

    Who Are You? I've had a song going around in my head recently — Who Are You by The Who. And bizarrely, I've realised it sums up rather well something I've been thinking about with the Clara James franchise. I was on a networking call recently and we got talking about confidence. Particularly that feeling of “Who am I to do this?” Maybe you've been out of the workplace for a few years bringing up children. Maybe you've spent your whole career doing something completely different. Or perhaps you're an experienced teacher, but the thought of actually running a business is terrifying.And it made me think...Who are you? Because that's actually what I want to know when somebody joins Clara James. I don't want to take you and squeeze you into my idea of what a franchisee should look like. I want to know what you're good at. What you're frightened of. What experience you're bringing with you. What you need help with. And what you're actually hoping to achieve. Because that's exactly what we do with children. The Clara James Approach isn't about looking at a child's age, diagnosis or attainment level and deciding we already know how they should learn.We get to know the child sitting in front of us. Then we adapt. And I'm beginning to realise that if I genuinely believe in that philosophy, it can't stop with the children we tutor. It has to run through the whole business. One franchisee might need lots of support with marketing. Another might need help with SEND. Someone else might know exactly how they want to grow their business but need somebody beside them giving them the confidence to actually do it. There will obviously be standards and systems within Clara James. That's part of what joining a franchise gives you.But within those foundations, I want people to remain themselves.So perhaps before we start asking, “What do you need to do?”, we should ask a much more important question:Who are you? Because once I know that, I can start helping you work out where you want to go next. And if you're listening to this thinking, “Actually, I'm not quite sure who I am in this next chapter yet”, that's okay too because I think that relates to a lot of us. And perhaps that's where the conversation starts.

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About

When it comes to learning we are all individuals. The past 20+ years have taught me that no matter our learning style if the child is engaged and relaxed they are more likely to learn. If we just keep giving them the same resources, varied over and over again, all we are doing is giving them one place in their brains to find the information. However, by giving them a variety of resources we can make it more interesting, more relevant, and help them to create multiple memories so that when they need to recall the information, they have more places they can go to in order to find it.If we can boost their confidence as well as their knowledge we will make their life and ours easier.For 20 years now I've been fascinated by different learning styles: ASD, Dyslexia, ADHD. The purpose of this podcast is to share my findings with you, so that maybe what I've learned will be of help to you too. 

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