Teaching is explaining the thing behind the thing.
I believe students learn best when they are allowed to understand, question, attempt, fail, correct and try again.
Eight ideas behind every lesson.
Understand before memorise
A method that isn't understood is fragile — it breaks under a slightly unfamiliar question.
Questions are part of learning
A question mid-lesson usually marks the exact moment real learning is about to happen.
Mistakes are data
An incorrect answer tells you exactly where a misconception lives.
Practice should have purpose
Repetition without a target rarely closes a gap.
Confidence follows competence
Confidence built before competence tends to be fragile.
Explain the why, not just the how
A procedure without a reason is just a sequence to forget.
Sequence matters
Most struggle with a topic traces back to a shaky prerequisite.
Independence is the goal
Every lesson should reduce how much support is needed next time.
The same sequence, every time.
A mistake is a diagnosis, not a failure.
An incorrect answer isn't noise to be corrected and forgotten — it's a direct signal about exactly where understanding breaks down. When a student writes (a + b)² = a² + b², that's not carelessness; it's evidence of a specific, common misconception about how squaring distributes over addition. Reading mistakes this precisely is most of what makes feedback useful.
Example
Why? The middle term is missing.
What actually happens inside a lesson.
Every lesson should need a little less support than the last.
Lessons on this site are structured to gradually reduce scaffolding — from a fully worked example, through guided and independent practice, to unprompted application.