The things you resist doing are the very things you should do more frequently. Nobody gets better at what they don't do.

Get to know a little about the student, specifically what they think their problem is with math. Talk about what the student enjoys doing outside of school, places they've been, and subjects they enjoy and do well in. Get them comfortable with me as a person.

Ask the student to think about known resources available to address an issue--examples in textbook, online resources, and help from classmates for instance.

Structure the learning so that a student's work increases in difficulty gradually. There should be a progression from easier problems to more difficult ones over time, with the more difficult problems using skills mastered through the easier ones.

I need to ask the student about where in my explanation the difficulty occurred. Clearly I have to rethink my explanation and reword it so as to be understood. This may involve breaking down the instruction into bits that are not so overwhelming for the student to think about.

Help the student connect what s/he already knows while s/he reads. Show how to make connections by sharing your own connections as you read aloud. Ask questions that will make the student look in the text for answers. Create a mental image to bring the text alive by reading aloud to the student and sharing your own images. Make inferences by combining what you already know with information from the story. Develop strategies to help the student when s/he doesn't understand something.

I like to begin by asking the student what they think the issue is, and by asking what sorts of difficulties they have had with mathematics in the past. Understanding the student's perceptions of the problem often helps in developing a strategy to address it.

Nothing succeeds like success. I would present the least challenging problems first and slightly increase the difficulty, building on skills the students have already successfully used.

I have the student explain the method of solution in their own words, define technical terms in ordinary language, and demonstrate understanding by explaining step-by-step what they did to solve a problem.

Start simple and build to greater complexity. As I mentioned earlier, nothing succeeds like success. Student confidence increases when they are successful and can maintain success. Lessons can be structured to pose simple problems that increase in complexity over time.

In a tutoring environment I assess a student's needs informally by observing and questioning students as they work their way through a mathematics problem. I note commonplace errors, errors in reversal of digits, errors in signs, errors in basic math facts, and then suggest extra practice accordingly. A firm foundation in the basics is necessary for consistent success with more complex mathematical skills.

I vary the complexity of the problems I present to my students according to the errors I see them make as we work together until I'm able to zero in on the area of misunderstanding.

The usual materials: pencil, paper, graph paper, textbooks, internet resources, and calculators. Previous tests and homework are also valuable.