What is your teaching philosophy?

Guide students through the material by asking questions, pointing them in the right direction, and always offering positive feedback.

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

Get to know them--where they come from, what their likes and dislikes are, and where they feel strongest and weakest in their learning (and why).

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Show, don't tell--lead them to the answer and then show them the methods used to get them there.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

By offering positive feedback, keeping things from being monotonous, and giving him or her short breaks when he or she starts to feel burnt out.

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

Find another way to teach the concept to them using topics, issues, or passions the student can relate to.

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

Patience, coupled with plentiful amounts of positive feedback.

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

Being kind, friendly, open, and honest.

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

Find a way for them to relate to it so that they begin to find it interesting.

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

Asking them to teach the material back to me, quizzing them, and having them explain the subject to someone else.

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

Constant positive feedback--minimizing setbacks and maximizing successes.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

By talking with them, speaking with their parents or guardians, and looking at where they did well and/or poorly on their past work.

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

Listening to them, observing which methods I'm using work better than others, and then favoring those methods going forward.

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

Appropriate books, pencils, pens, and paper. The Internet should only be used as a last resort.