About Amanda

Hi!

I’m Amanda Lynch and am based in South East Kent. I tutor individuals and teach classes in Canterbury and the surrounding areas.

I am a fully qualified Teacher with 20+ years’ experience teaching Maths. I specialise in teaching Maths to individuals who find learning Maths tricky and I am also currently working as a tutor for the British Dyslexia Association.

I am passionate about teaching Maths in a way that promotes deep understanding and not just following arbitrary rules. Indeed, my mantra is “less about rules and more about understanding!”. I do this by using resources and teaching aids that help clarify the structure underpinning the topic being taught, and by linking the topic to other areas of Maths.

Often students will come for help on a topic, such as fractions, but as we begin to investigate their current understanding it will transpire that their difficulties stem from not truly understanding underlying concepts such as multiplication and division or place value. As Maths is a hierarchical subject, any gaps in understanding may seriously impact them when learning new concepts later on. So, students who have not fully understood the concepts behind addition/subtraction or multiplication/division, but can calculate with numbers, may find that “changing the subject of a formula” or “solving equations” in algebra is confusing and makes no sense. Similarly, students who have never linked related concepts such as “ dividing by 4 = ¼ = 25% = 0.25” may try and solve a question such as “find 25% of 4” or “4 x 0.25” by doing many difficult calculations rather than just dividing by 4.

Research has shown that attempting to do Maths by following rules and not really understanding what is happening or why, results in students feeling anxiety. At first it may be directed at just the topic area they are struggling with, but if it continues it may spread to the whole of Maths and have implications for not only their future learning in Maths, but also their well-being and self-esteem generally. (Jo Boaler has written extensively about this if you are curious for further information.)

My aim is always to teach for understanding with kindness and sensitivity, enabling all students to achieve their full potential.

If you would like to join a class or enquire about tuition, I will be delighted to hear from you.

Amanda

Qualifications: Amanda Lynch BA/QTS

SpLD Assessment Practicing Certificate (APC), (Issuing Body - Patoss);

PgDip Dyscalculia Research and Practice, (University of Chester);

PGCert SpLD (Dyscalculia), (Edge Hill University);

Primary Mathematics Specialist Teacher Postgraduate Certificate,(Canterbury Christ Church University);

BA(QTS) Primary Education, (Canterbury Christ Church University College).