What is your teaching philosophy?

My philosophy for teaching and learning is to model the strategies for comprehension and to utilize the material of interest to the student.

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

In the first lesson, I would identify the way the student learns best, including the environment and their learning style. This promotes success in learning.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Teaching a student to independently utilize resources aids in that student becoming autonomous.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Utilizing instructional material that interests the students helps with motivation. For instance, if the student loves animals, then I find passages highlighting animals.

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

Back up, have the student explain their thought process, and help bridge the learning gaps by modeling the successful thought process.

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

I model reading comprehension strategies as we read together, aloud. I stop often to help the student make predictions, analyze the author's purpose, and figure out unknown vocabulary in context.

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

I enjoy learning about the interests of each student so I can tailor the learning experience.

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

Encouraging and immediate feedback is great in motivating any student.

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

Checking for understanding as we work through the steps of a problem or reading passage helps assess whether the student has been successful in comprehension.

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

Finding the student's' strengths in any subject builds confidence. It is also important to be able to address specific areas of weakness.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Both discussion and an initial practice aloud, where the student tells me their thought process, help me identify learning gaps.

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

Once we identify a learning objective, we can focus on the student's specific areas of weakness.

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

I use a wide variety of materials of high interest to the student.