What is your teaching philosophy?

Throughout the years I've been a student, I've had many teachers and tutors, both good and bad. My personal philosophy is to respect my students and engage with them on their terms, and to foster a sense of purpose and a positive attitude towards whatever I'm tutoring. I believe that a positive student-teacher relationship creates the best learning environment, and I try to achieve this with each of my students.

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

Talk to the student about why they are in tutoring, what their goals are for the tutoring sessions going forward, and have them perform some diagnostics to get a sense of the student's present level.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Provide students with all of the resources and materials that they need, and work on their study habits. This way, the students' learning won't stop after the tutor has gone home.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Remind them about the goals that were set at the start of tutoring. Remind them that there is a great reward at the end of the tunnel, and praise them for the work that they have already put in so far, and the improvements that they have already shown.

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

I would have the student take a deep breath and then try a different approach to the problem. If they are still having trouble, I would break down the concept to its simplest form, and start off with practicing those simple steps, gradually building up to the full concept.

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

I would have them break down the passage sentence by sentence, and paragraph by paragraph, pointing out the keywords and phrases that are important in understanding the author's intent.

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

Just try to make it easy for them, and I break it down so that it can be understood. Once the student sees that it's not so hard after all, he/she will be more excited to continue.

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

Give a few sample problems to test them.

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

Give them problems that they can handle, and build up from there. Once they are familiar with the simpler problems, gradually move up to more difficult problems.