What is your teaching philosophy?

It is my goal to help students develop writing and editing skills that they can practice with me and then take with them moving forward. I accomplish this with a hands-on approach. Like most things in life, practice makes perfect!

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

We will discuss their goals and their expectations. I like to get an idea of why they think they need to see a tutor, and what they are hoping to gain from the experience. It is important that we have concrete ways to measure our progress, and end goals to work toward. Students like being able to give input (for some it may be the first time they have been asked what they want to learn). Working toward pre-determined goals keeps the students engaged and because they are a part of the goal-setting process, they often feel more invested in meeting those goals.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I focus on teaching skills, not simply on the single project that may be the focus of our session. My goal is to develop a set of transferable skills students can take with them moving forward, skills they can utilize on projects down the road.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Goal setting is very important. Equally important is that the student be involved in setting those specific goals. It keeps them engaged and makes them invested in reaching them. If a student loses motivation, it may be a sign that we need to re-evaluate our initial goals together and change them to better suit where the student is.

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

Skills build on one another. If a student is having difficulty grasping a concept, I would first address their foundation, the skills they would need to have mastered already in order to grasp the concept I am trying to teach them now. My approach would be to work backwards and find where the confusion starts, then go from there.

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

Practice, practice, practice. That being said, the material needs to engage them. I would spend a good deal of time finding material that interests the student, something they will enjoy reading and discussing with me. Sometimes students will not be particularly engaged by assigned reading (from school, for example); this is bound to happen. However, by practicing with engaging material and building their skills, the students will be better able to handle the rest.

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

Getting the student involved in setting expectations for our sessions. They need to take charge of their learning and self-improvement. It gets them invested and keeps them engaged.