I thrive teaching social studies of all forms, reading, English, and beginning Spanish. I keep a laid-back approach, and work to become a mentor instead of purely a teacher. I work to inspire my students with a hunger for knowledge, especially in history and social studies. As George Santayana said: "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it".

I ask questions about where they are academically to better understand where their starting point is. I would follow up asking about what their goals are academically as well as in their future career. I would ask them to express their concerns and where their problem areas are to ascertain what their specific needs are.

To become an independent learner without inspiration is impossible. Therefore, it is necessary to discover what inspires them and tie it to their academic careers.

They say practice makes perfect, but a wrestling coach in high school told me that PERFECT practice makes perfect. I would go over where the student is having difficulties in more detail, and come at the issue from a different angle. A different reading or conversational strategy would help increase their perception of the concept, and then repeated practice with different forms of assessment.

It's all about what the student's personal goals are. One way or another, there is a way to motivate them. Everyone wants to be better today than they were yesterday; it's just a matter of inspiring them and discovering their personal ambitions.

Practice! The student would pick a reading topic of something they were interested in or are curious about, and then they would read it once through and take a short quiz for me to assess their level of comprehension and see why they are struggling.

Formative assessments with each session, in addition to final assessments after a series of sessions. Depending on the subject's complexity, they could be multiple-choice, short answer, or an essay.

Practicing and developing their conversational skills about a topic. With history and all forms of social studies, it is a matter of subject knowledge. This applies in the private sector for sales and marketing as knowing your product, and knowing your target audience. Knowledge is power, and the more you know, the more confident you will be.

Taking the time to discuss what their needs are, and talking about why they feel like they need help in a certain area. After determining their feelings about where their issues are, give a set of a few practice / discussion questions to make sure their benchmark is where they say it is. Then immediately move forward and coach them.

Make it relevant to their own life. Math will always be needed in the future. So will English Language skills, writing skills, reading, and critical-thinking. Just because they are struggling now doesn't mean they always will.

There are a variety of different teaching methods available, and each student learns differently. If one style isn't effective, then I immediately pivot to the next.

It depends on the subject and level of instruction, but anything from reading to answering practice questions and having them write a practice short response. It all depends on that student's personal needs.

Asking them directly, and then using formative assessment.