In eighth grade, I decided that I wanted to become a teacher. The learning process fascinated me and I wanted to share my knowledge and enthusiasm with future students. Upon entering the field of education, I quickly realized that teaching was much more than bestowing information upon a room of students, to be soaked up by their sponge-like brains. I came to understand that teaching is far more complex, demanding, and rewarding than I ever imagined. Like teaching in a classroom, tutoring involves more than academic content. Tutors must instruct and reinforce skills that equip students for lifelong learning and success. Tutoring is really about meeting a child where she or he is and guiding them to where they need to be for optimal learning. I am a great tutor because I understand that each student learns as an individual and that learning occurs best when tutors utilize research-based teaching strategies/best practice methods. I employ a variety of strategies that account for student interests, learning styles, and abilities.

In a typical first session, I would focus on getting to know the student's interests, strengths, and weaknesses. The methods used would depend on the age of the student, but I would typically use games and ice-breaker activities to stimulate conversation and to assess the student's abilities.

Students become independent learners by understanding the learning process and how they learn best as individuals. I can help a student become an independent learner by teaching him or her strategies for learning, memorization, and studying information that can be used across content areas. I can also teach a student coping strategies to help him or her work through anxiety and stress that can be associated with learning and test preparation.

I would help a student stay motivated by integrating the student's personal interests into the tutoring sessions.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, I would try a different teaching method until I found one that helped the student. As a practicing educator, I have many resources in my "teacher toolbox" that I can refer to in order to help a student overcome his or her challenge.

I help struggling readers with their comprehension by modeling, teaching students how to monitor their comprehension, encouraging the use of graphic organizers, and utilizing questioning techniques, among other strategies.

When I begin working with a student, I want to understand what they know and how they feel about the topic at hand. I begin by having the student create a thinking map that demonstrates what they know and how they know it.

I establish personal connections between the student and the material in order to generate student excitement and engagement. For example, if a student is particularly fond of animals, but struggles with reading, I would use books and other materials that feature animals to entice the student.

Many techniques exist for the assessment of student understanding. Having students "teach" the material back to me and thinking maps are two ways that I determine student understanding.

I build student confidence by helping students create attainable goals, offering praise, providing choice in learning activities, allowing student to build on their strengths, and being positive and encouraging.

I evaluate a student's needs using performance-based prior knowledge assessments, student self-assessments, concept maps, and typical classroom assessment techniques.

Adapting to a student's needs requires me to "think on my feet" and utilize my training to adjust instruction on the spot. For example, I would work with the student to create mnemonic devices for information he or she is struggling to remember. By having the student be a part of the creation process, that device will be much more meaningful.

The materials required for a tutoring session can differ based on the subject matter. For an in-person session, though, I typically use paper, pens, pencils, markers, a ruler, and a calculator.