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

In a typical first session, I like to get to know my students a little bit before jumping into the material because I believe that tutoring is more effective if I'm able to connect with the student and make the material a little bit more fun and engaging. We'll typically go over expectations (what the student wants from me, what I typically expect from the students in terms of effort and communication) as well as learning strategies (how the student typically learns best, and how I can present the material in a way that is best for them to understand), and then we'll dive into the material.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I aim to provide strategies that are useful not just to the topic at hand, but also that are useful as study skills in general. I also hope to contextualize difficult material and help my students to see how this actually applies to their real life, so they are able to look for these connections outside of our sessions and understand that what they're learning has value outside the classroom.

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

In my sessions, we typically stick to the materials provided by the student, because teachers tend to want a specific type of work and usually create tests and quizzes that are structured similarly to homework problems. If the material provided by the student is not enough, however, I draw in outside sources, videos explaining difficult concepts in a new way that may be easier to understand, and further example problems or reading sources.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

It's hard for students to stay motivated if they can't see how what they're learning connects to their lives or the world they see around them, so when I see a student struggling to stay motivated, I try to contextualize information and draw connections between things they are familiar with. It makes learning more exciting when you can see how the material really applies, and draws on the curiosity within each student.

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

When students have difficulty grasping challenging subjects, we break the concepts down and work through them step by step. After we've gone all the way through the difficult concepts, I often have the student "teach" the material back to me to ensure they have no gaps in their understanding and to build their confidence in the new skills that they have learned.