I work with student strengths and interests as much as possible. Instead of making students become someone they're not, I encourage the development of natural abilities while also incorporating new ideas and methods.

Make progress. Nothing builds confidence and propels forward movement like progress. Making note of small wins and slight changes in approach that will reap big rewards down the road is crucial right from the first session.

Not that there's anything wrong with getting help or coaching, but building up the ability to learn independently is highly valuable. As someone who loves to learn through reading, I can offer suggestions on how to get more out reading through book choices and methods for reading more effectively.

Learning is a life-long process. It's not always a smooth process, but over time, the general trend is an upward one. Taking the long view and remembering recent successes as the result of strategic effort builds confidence and motivation to keep doing what works. If learning is enjoyable, we'll keep doing it.

I'll break the concept down into its component parts and try to identify where the difficulty lies. If there's not enough time to fill in all the gaps, I can recommend high-quality resources from across the web.

Reading and thinking aloud together. I'd have the student read something, share their thought process, and add to it what I saw or did to enhance what they're already doing.

Building a good working relationship through positive rapport is key. I take life seriously, but I also love to keep things light at the same time. I make learning enjoyable by relating concepts to real life and pop culture.

I try to let the student lead as much as possible in terms of content and learning style. While I can assess for understanding and suggest a way forward, I like to get input from the student about how to proceed.

I like to use printed materials and digital materials that I can bring into an app on my iPad Pro and mark up with the Apple Pencil. As an Apple fan, I also work a lot with my MacBook and iPhone. For sharing documents with students, I use Google Docs.

I specialize in making learning more visual. Students who struggle often do not receive enough instruction in a way that is visually cohesive or appealing, especially if they do not learn well by listening or reading alone.