I work with students to help them discover their individual learning style. Once they know how they learn, they can find study methods that work with them not against them!

If they can teach it, they know it! Asking students to explain the concepts as if they were teaching them to someone new allows them to reinforce their own understanding, or it reveals what part of the process they're stuck on. It's my favorite comprehension check and is particularly useful when studying for tests.

In a first session, I will come prepared with several problems appropriate to the student's grade level to gauge their strengths and to identify areas we can improve together. I also like to review any of the student's recent schoolwork to see how they are doing. I will also ask the student about their interests outside of school so I can create work that they find enjoyable and appropriately challenging within their learning styles. We typically will talk through some short-term goals by the end of the session.

As much as I love helping students with their work, the goal is always to help the student get to a place where they can succeed without my assistance. I teach strategies to help students locate their own mistakes and reinforce good review habits so that each student can improve on their own. Typically, good study skills can go a long way in helping a student become independent, so I like to find what works best for them.

I help students stay motivated through encouragement, working within their level, and by finding their interests. Almost any academic work can be re-framed so that it includes a student's extracurricular interests. When working with an elementary student that hated math but loved basketball, I created word problems and graphs that featured sport statistics. Instantly, he was focused and excited to learn new math skills.

Small steps are crucial to tackling academic roadblocks. It is easy for a student to feel overwhelmed by a topic then stop trying. By breaking down each topic into manageable portions, we can reinforce each step of the process thoroughly before moving up to something more challenging. I also like to bring in visual aids, songs, or short videos to help students with complex topics as I find giving the material in a different medium really helps it stick.

The most common barriers to good reading comprehension are a lack of visualization and material that is above level. If a student has trouble remembering what they have read, I'll have them draw a picture that they add to every sentence and when they get more comfortable, only every paragraph, so that they have consistent checkpoints to see if they are retaining the information. If a text is above level, we will skim it together and highlight words the student isn't sure about. Typically, by defining them before the student starts reading, the material becomes instantly more manageable.

I use books, videos, diagrams, online learning games, and lots of colored pencils and crayons when working with a student. Keeping a student excited and interested by the material is crucial to working through difficult topics. I like to vary how I introduce material and often find that online resources are enjoyable introductions that the student can access and practice outside of our sessions. I normally recommend outside materials to help students reinforce what they've learned throughout the week.