The bottom line is that students learn when they know they can. My goal has always been to help others find what they're capable of--and didn't know they were capable of--and provide the best tools to reach their goals.

I like to start with a conversation about the subject from the student's perspective. Things I'll ask for are the obvious candidates, such as what they want to work on or what they find most difficult, but I also want to know whether they find it interesting, how the class and assignments are organized, and how that organization works for them. I find it saves a lot of time in the long run to begin with a clear sense of where the student is coming from, intellectually as well as practically.

This here is for me what marks the difference between a tutor and a homework helper. Most of the work I do with my students is geared towards the skills they can take with them outside of the session. Some of the things I like to pay special attention to and reinforce in a session are organization, time management, and planning, as these habits can make any project easier.

It's important to inform students what they're doing right and not to focus just on where improvement is needed. It also goes a long way to be smart about staggering the challenging work with practice in more confident areas. Finally, I strongly encourage students to bring a snack. Blood sugar can make or break motivation levels!

My strategy is a combination of 1) making a note of the problem area to make sure we give it extra attention and 2) finding out what makes it difficult for the student. Are we working with a certain kind of math problem that relies on a concept missed from the last unit? Or a grammatical principle that doesn't exist in the student's native language? Sometimes the solution for a student is simply a matter of changing perspectives; other times, it's understanding the student's learning style and adjusting the level of practice accordingly.

Context, context, context! Have you ever opened up a book to a random page to find you have no idea what you're reading? That's the same experience any reader has without an active set of expectations. Before reading a chapter, I like to have students consult section headlines, their notes, and their memory from class to form some predictions on what they are about to read. Even if it's wrong, this exercise provides some investigative ground to stand on. I also encourage making note of unfamiliar words, but to hold off on reaching for the dictionary until afterwards.