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

The strategies that I have found to be most successful with a student include chunking content into digestible bites, using accountable talk, using the gradual release model, and personalizing the learning process.

What is your teaching philosophy?

Everyone has the ability to learn. As an educator, I want to help prepare students to be career- and college-ready. I love teaching because I love the opportunity it affords me to individualize the learning process for each and every student to experience knowledge acquisition at his or her own pace using the method and style that suits him or her.

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

In a first session with a student, I would first introduce myself to the student. I would then get to know the student and gain a sense of the student's strengths, weaknesses, and areas of concern.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I would help a student become an independent learner by providing the student with the strategies and tools they could use to retrieve, comprehend, analyze, and utilize knowledge.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I would help a student stay motivated by providing connections between the knowledge they are acquiring and their prior knowledge and applications to the real world. I would help the students see the relevance of what they are learning (i.e., help them to understand the need, importance, and future or present possible utilization of the knowledge).

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

The techniques I would use to be sure a student understands the material include an immediate student response system and formative assessments coupled with chunking of the content into digestible parts.

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

I build a student's confidence in a subject by meeting a student where he or she is and building them to the appropriate rigor or intent of the content, all while celebrating the student's successes along the way. The other crucial part is communicating with the student about where they are, where they need to be, and what they need to do to get there. I would also include a method of self assessment or feedback to be able to progress monitor along the way.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I evaluate a student's needs through formative assessments. I immerse the student in content while monitoring the student's thinking.

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

I monitor the student's thinking, processing, analysis, and utilization of information to see what the student's needs actually are. Then, I make the necessary adjustments to the instruction and support accordingly.

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

It really varies according to the topic, but I definitely believe in a hands-on, experiential approach that is more "learning by doing."