My philosophy of teaching is the belief that every student, no matter the age, has the ability to learn and be successful in their own unique way.

The first thing I like to do when working with students is to do a little get to know you session. The student and I talk about what we each like and don't like and what we want to do with the time we have to ensure we are getting the most out of our time and the most success.

There are many ways, I feel, to help a student become a more independent learner. However, I feel that confidence is very important in becoming a successful independent learner. With that said, I would make sure to work with the student in build their confidence in their abilities before we move to more difficult concepts or skills.

I think that knowing a student beyond their name and a test score really helps with finding a motivation for students. So, answering this question is difficult for me because each child is unique and different and what may motivate one may not motivate another. This answer, for me, depends greatly on the student I am working with and what they like and don't like and so on.

I would make sure to identify, as closely as possible, where and why they are having such a hard time. Then, using that information, I would go back to how I am teaching them and re-assess my approach to see if there is a different and more effective way to teach the student.

I would teach them reading comprehension strategies. One of the most common strategies is read and retell, where the student reads a passage and retells what they have read. However, the strategy that I would use would depend on the student and their individual needs.

There are many strategies that I have found to be successful when working with students. However, each strategy was chosen and the success it provided ranges between students. On the other hand, in my experiences so far, I have experienced more successes when I have gotten to know my students as individuals before their academic struggles. I feel this strategy has helped me in being more accurate in assessing where they are struggling and, in some cases, why they are struggling.

I am a firm believer in making learning fun. If I know a student is poor in a subject and is really against trying to improve, I would find every way possible to make learning and practicing that subject fun. I would make sure to provide activities that the student isn't aware that they're even performing for the subject or skill.

There are many tools available to use to assess whether or not a student is understanding a concept or skill. I try to stay away from test giving or pop quizzes because I feel that students get enough of that in school as it is. If I wanted to know whether my student was retaining what I have taught, I would either do an oral exam, which is just asking a series of questions that deal with what we have gone over, or I would do exit slips which are the same as an oral examination only it is written and has a space for the student to reflect on how they are feeling about the subject.

Building confidence, like I've said, is so important in learning. How you build confidence in a subject, to me, ranges from student to student. I will say that because I try to make learning concepts and skills fun. I do make sure that I start a student off by be able to show off what they know and what they can do before we work on the things that they may not know how to do.