What is your teaching philosophy?

There is a lot to accomplish in first sessions, which are critically important! The nature of the learning process means that learners are vulnerable and emotional, especially if they experience struggles. So, I start getting to know students, building trust, and making them (and parents) feel comfortable with me. I also identify what it is that students want to accomplish and set some goals. I make baseline assessments, identifying what it is that students can do, what they cannot, and what obstacles or complicating factors affect the situation. Together, we come up with a preliminary plan for how to reach the goals that are set. Detailed targets and lesson ideas could be filled in later, but we would at least put together an overview and outline of the accomplishments the work would produce. Finally, I would establish what the next steps would be -- discussing arrangement terms, scheduling a follow-up meeting, and assigning any practice activities I wanted the student to do.