What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching and tutoring philosophy is that all students, regardless of ability or disability, can achieve to their highest potential when provided with academically and developmentally appropriate instruction and support. It is, therefore, my teaching and tutoring style to appropriately create, differentiate, and modify content and/or lessons to make them accessible, engaging, and rigorous for students with a wide range of ability levels and/or disability classifications.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I can help a student become an independent learner by implementing a gradual release of responsibility with the student. For example, when teaching a new skill, I would first introduce the skill to the student with steps and examples. Then, we would work on several practice problems together. Lastly, I would release responsibility to the student to demonstrate mastery of the learned skill, and I would review / reteach as necessary.

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

I would differentiate and/or modify how I teach the skill or concept to make it easier for the student to comprehend and demonstrate mastery of it. As necessary, I would also scaffold the content, break down the steps, and provide the student with additional examples. I would walk the student through practice problems until he or she gets it.

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

I help students struggling with reading comprehension by providing them with texts at their independent reading level. I can also explicitly teach vocabulary to these students as well as how to use resources such as online and/or paper dictionaries.

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

Building a relationship of positive and mutual respect and trust. As teacher / tutor, I always use positive and respectful language and make clear to the students that my objective is for them to be as academically successful as possible. Also, I assess the students and build on their knowledge in pursuit of their academic goals.

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

Check for understanding in their spoken and written responses to problems and prompts. Respond to the understanding as necessary by probing why a student chose a correct or incorrect answer and reteaching or reviewing the content as necessary.

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

Discuss with the students their academic goals and/or areas of strength and weakness. Review the students' work samples and/or assess as appropriate their skills and knowledge in the areas related to their goals. Create a tutoring plan with clear benchmarks for what they should achieve and when in pursuit of their goals.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Use of concrete, specific, and positive praise. Letting the student know I believe in them and that they must believe in themselves. Differentiate and modify content and lessons to make them academically and developmentally appropriate to the student's ability level and/or disability classification.

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

Make the content accessible and engaging through appropriate differentiation or modification. Provide real-world examples to the student of why the subject and/or content is applicable in real life.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Review the student's work samples and/or ask the student to complete a new work sample. Discuss with the student his or her strengths and weaknesses. Assess and respond appropriately.

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

Be attentive. Determine objectively and quickly which tutoring and/or learning styles best suit the student and implement them. Adapt as necessary.

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

Computer, pen or pencil, paper, calculator, web resources, online dictionary, encyclopedias, and other resources.

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

Start the student off with the fundamentals of the subject, and as the student's confidence builds, introduce increasingly complex subject matter. Check for the student's understanding of the subject matter. Respond to the student's understanding of the subject matter with appropriate differentiation and modification, reteaching or reviewing content as necessary.