Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. -Benjamin Franklin.

The key to becoming an independent learner is being able to apply the material you learned to a problem you are trying to solve without having someone assist you every step of the way. I would help a student become an independent learner by providing a lot of practice material and making our tutoring sessions very interactive. Whenever I teach a new concept I like to follow up with practice questions so that the student can solidify what they just learned and get experience applying their knowledge. If the student gets stuck and has a question, instead of answering their question directly, I will ask them questions to help guide their thinking and hopefully allow for them to answer their own question. This teaches them to be more independent in their learning and thinking. If I cannot get them to a place where they can answer their own question, I will change my approach and work the problem out with them, explaining my thinking processes out loud. For subjects that require analytical, writing, or language skills, I would follow a similar approach by having the session be very interactive and I would provide practice specific to what we would be working on that day. For example, in a Literature, English, or History session, I would hold analytic discussions with the students to get them to draw connections between the materials covered and then apply it to our discussion. This gives the students practice analyzing the material they just learned, forming coherent arguments, and applying their knowledge to realistic scenarios. Instead of telling a student directly how two events in history relate or what role a certain theme plays in a book, I will try to get the student to form these connections themselves, and in doing so they become an independent learner.

To make sure that a student fully understands the material, I will provide practice for them to complete during our session. I like to incorporate practice problems right after teaching a new concept so that the student has the opportunity to apply what they just learned and it also allows for me to accurately gauge the student.

In order to build a student’s confidence in a subject I provide them with tons of practice. The questions start out relatively easy and get increasingly difficult. I also try to give students practice that is more challenging than something they may see on a test or a homework assignment outside of our sessions. I believe it is important to practice with difficult questions so that you are prepared for anything. Confidence is built with experience. When it comes to confidence is one’s academic abilities, experience is practice.