My philosophy of teaching is to make sure that each student is comfortable with what it is that they are learning. Education should be fun. When you combine comfort and fun in teaching, it helps the students retain the information for years after they have learned it. Plus it makes a difference with the child.

In a first session with a student, I would like to learn about the student to find out what this likes and dislikes are about learning. This will help with the steps we need to use to help the student become successful with their learning.

I can help a student become an independent learner by encouraging them to challenge themselves. Once you work with the student to find our their learning style, help them to become more confident in themselves, which will then help to make them more independent as a learner.

I would help a student stay motivated by encouraging them. A lot of times they don't feel confident within themselves on what it is that they are learning, so they are not motivated to learn. Words like "GOOD JOB!" or "NICE WORK" can help a student with motivation.

When a student has difficulties learning a skill or concept, I go back to the beginning, or at least the last part that the student understood. Once I am able to figure out the last step that was understood, I then find how they got lost in the learning and what made it difficult, and work with them to break down the barrier to create an easier way to learn that concept.

A lot of times when the student is struggling with reading comprehension, it is because they are not familiar with the words that they are reading. I like to use an old school dictionary and have them look up the definition of the word. Then, I have them write a sentence about the word so that they can understand how the word or words are used in the information that they are reading. Then I follow that up with questions about what they read to see if they are retaining the information.

For me, learning about the student has been very helpful. No one person has the same learning skills or style, so when trying to help a student learn, it is very helpful to understand the child so that you can help them to learn.

When a student is struggling in a subject, that is sometimes because they are lost. They got left behind when the teacher was explaining something to them. You creatively find a way to incorporate something that is of interest to the child, or even something that they are familiar with, to help them get more engaged or excited about learning.

I would ask the student questions about the learning material. This is a way of finding out if they understand without them telling you they don't understand. Take this question: a good example would be asking "Can you tell me what techniques are?" This way, if the student is able to give you the definition of a technique and tell you how they would help a child understand, then you know that they understand the questions. If they have no clue as to what a technique is, then you know that you have to do some extra steps to help the student understand this lesson.

Confidence is built through positive motivation. I would encourage the student and congratulate them on a job well done. Help them to feel good about themselves when it come to learning.

Conversation is a good way to evaluate the needs, finding out from the student what they are comfortable with and not comfortable with and finding out why.

I adapt my tutoring skills around my students by being encouraging and helpful. Sometimes students are afraid to speak up in class because other kids can be rude Helping a student break out of his or her shell and finding creative ways to help them learn is important.

The materials would depend on the subject and the grade level of the student, but I love using colorful objects and a dictionary with pictures for reading.