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

I try and find alternate ways to engage the student, and help the connect the dots.

How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?

I would try and find a way to create a connection between the offending subject and something else that the student is already interested in.

What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?

I would use review activities in varying degrees of formality - for instance, if I was teaching a student to compose compelling introductory paragraphs, I would give them a sample topic or two and set them to create multiple possible openings for a single essay.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I start off with an informal "assessment" assignment, the results of which I would keep for purposes of later comparison. That way, I can see how the student has grown over time and figure out which areas are proving the most troublesome.

What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?

As my specialty is teaching writing, I don't often need more than loose-leaf paper and some pens/pencils. However, I may bring in outside texts (ex: short stories for an AP Literature student) as necessary.

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

Together, we'd work to attack the problem from different angles until we found its weak spot.

How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?

I learn as much as I can about what kind of person my student is - what interests them, what their strengths are, etc. - and adjust my goals and assignments to best fit their needs.

What is your teaching philosophy?

I teach writing because I love writing, but you don't need to love writing in order to be an effective writer. It doesn't matter what you plan to study in the future - everyone needs to know how to communicate with the rest of the world.

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

After learning more about what my student needs/expects to learn, I'd start them off with an informal "assessment" assignment, which would allow me to better see what their strengths and weaknesses are.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I would do my best to make the material engaging, or at least tolerable enough that they would feel comfortable proceeding on their own.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I'd move at a tailored pace, speeding up or slowing down as best suited to the student's needs.

How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?

When it comes to confusing material, I try to make connections between it and subjects that the student is already comfortable with.

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

I find that slow starts are the most effective - if I rush the student too fast, both of us miss out on opportunities to learn and grow.