What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

My first session is always focused on getting to the know the student's areas of comfort and concern, as well as working through a few questions from each area we'll address to see how he or she approaches problems. Discussing the goals of our time together is important, and that begins with understanding his or her learning style. Tutoring is a personal matter, and ensuring that a student is comfortable working with me is a major priority of mine.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

When beginning to work on a new topic, I first work through problems alongside the student to help develop the skills necessary to answer the question. I then watch them work through similar problems and offer assistance when needed. Once the student can solve the problems on his or her own, I assign sample problems for homework to help develop the skills to work on questions independently. This also allows him or her to notice areas that need more attention to foster self-assessment and growth.

What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?

I believe in the importance of relationship building skills to develop a rapport between tutor and student. It's important that my students know I am there to help them. There are no grades, and they will not be penalized for wrong answers. I encourage them to be honest about their weak points so we can work on them together to help strengthen those points. As a tutor, my job is to offer constant support to help develop skills but, more importantly, to improve their self-confidence and their belief that they can and will improve!

What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that we, as a society, need to be comfortable with the fact that we do not know everything. To develop a stronger passion for learning, we have to accept that we have a need for knowledge. This will give you the drive to move forward and master subjects through dedicated study. I often find that students interpret struggles or knowledge gaps as 'failures,' so I emphasize that this is part of the learning process. Being able to identify where you need help and what topics require extra focus is an incredible strength that will help them learn anything they want. Once a student becomes more understanding of that fact that we all start off as blank slates and slowly increase our knowledge through hard work, they stop feeling any shame or frustration with their current weak areas and start to see the results that come with dedicated study.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I try to keep sessions fun! Study skills should not feel like horrendously dry, tedious tasks. I like to rotate topics and keep students interested by giving them some control over which topics we cover on a given day, ensuring that we do address everything necessary but also allowing them to understand that they are in control of their own learning. I keep the tone of the session comfortable and enjoyable so that they do not feel like our time together is a chore. I find that students who enjoy our sessions are those who also are the most motivated in the long run.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

My first plan of action is always to make sure students do not feel any negative feelings when they are having difficulty with a specific area. I try to gather extra materials related to that skill and present a technique in multiple ways, since certain approaches work best for different people. I like to break it down as simply as possible before building the difficulty, allowing them to increase their capabilities and self-esteem as we go.

How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?

Many students who struggle with reading comprehension simply need to focus on a few key skills: Slowing down to read deliberately, summarizing as they go, and reading contextually. I find that students tend to speed through passages that they find boring and skim questions haphazardly, though this makes it nearly impossible to understand the meaning of a passage. It is also incredibly difficult to understand the outline of the reading without keeping an ongoing annotated outline as you read, so I teach students how to make brief notes for themselves to organize their thoughts as they proceed. I also encounter students who tend to ignore sentences if they do not understand a certain phrase or word, but focusing on the context of the sentence can help them to capture the meaning instead of skipping it altogether. These steps, when taken together, can make a major difference in students' critical reading skills.