What is your teaching philosophy?

My tutoring style is very personal; I endeavor to get to know my students as well as possible in order to make them feel comfortable and to determine how they learn best. In addition, I try to get the student to figure out how to work through a problem, focusing on the process as much as the outcome, to help them develop the fundamentals and intuition necessary to succeed in their subject.

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

I'd get a sense of the student's current proficiency, and help them develop concrete goals for themselves for the long-term. In addition, I'd begin developing a rapport with the student, as the more comfortable they feel with me, the better they learn.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By stressing the cognitive processes or reasoning involved in arriving at the correct answer and making the student use what they know to figure things out, as opposed to focusing on memorization and immediately giving the student answers when they hesitate.

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

I focus on strategies that build on a student's existing knowledge, encouraging the student to use what s/he knows to figure the text out. I emphasize critical thinking instead of rote memorization.