I like to cater my teaching for students based on their individual needs, because I believe every student learns differently. For students who learn better through visual representations, I get a better student response when I draw out explanations, whereas auditory learners grasp information quickly when they are in a lecture setting. I like to spend some time learning what works best for each student and take advantage of that when tutoring. For younger students, sometimes the biggest barriers for their learning are distractions and boredom in the subject, so I think it is extremely important for me as a tutor to make the material interesting for them so that the students don't see our tutoring sessions as a task, but rather as a fun opportunity to excel in a subject.

In a first session, I would spend some time asking the student about his/her interest in the subject, and I would try to get an idea of what type of learner they are (visual or auditory). Once I get an idea, I would start out by assessing their knowledge in the subject by asking a series of easy, medium and difficult questions to see where he/she stands. Based on that, I would see if the student requires some foundation work, and spend some time explaining concepts that seem to create difficulty for him/her. I would incorporate practice throughout the explanation/lecture process, and also set aside enough time for the student to practice without my help until necessary, because it is important that the student is comfortable completing the work without my direct help. I would leave some time in our session for questions he/she is having a difficult time understanding and really hone in on what mistakes they are making so they don't make the same ones in the future.

I think for a student to become an independent learner, I would teach him/her to practice on their own as much as he/she could. If the student absolutely needs assistance, then I would offer them help in pieces so that the student still has to discern what steps to take to solve the problem. A mistake I see other tutors make is providing students with answer keys before students have completed the work, which hinders students from becoming independent learners.

In order to keep students motivated, I would be sure to acknowledge their hard work and praise them for correctly answering difficult questions. I think positive feedback is extremely helpful in keeping students on task and also boosts their confidence in the subject, which in turn allows them to tackle more difficult questions.

If students are having difficulties understanding certain skills or concepts, I would first assess their background knowledge in the subject. In most cases, it is difficult for students to learn concepts because they are lacking an understanding in fundamental concepts. Once I go over the basics and see that the student understands them, I would increase difficulty step by step until the student comes to learn the concept they were having difficulty with.