What is your teaching philosophy?

To teach a student why they should learn as well as provide them with the skills necessary to fundamentally understand their lives and the world around them.

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

Ask the student questions about their life, their learning style, and the basics about the subject to diagnose how to best work in the following sessions.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Teach the student skills, not simply content. Mnemonics, note-taking, and study tips, etc.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Teach the student how to set goals and how to best reward themselves for achieving them.

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

Find another method of engagement. One must implement a variety of entry points into each lesson in order for each student to have the greatest chance of success.

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

Implement literacy strategies to reread, sound it out, break up words, etc. Model these and explain how they helped me work through my own difficulties as a student.

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

Build culture! Find commonalities, explain the value of the content to get the student to have some buy-in before you begin!

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

With biology, it's usually easy because often we are discussing content that actually exists within the student! If not, work together to find a scenario where the material is useful.

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

Reciprocal teaching. If a student can teach it to me like I am 5 years old, they got it.

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

Assessments, data tracking, and goal setting. When a student can observe their own progress, confidence follows.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Questioning, diagnostics, surveys, etc.

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

By getting to know the student before I begin to teach, then tailoring lessons to cater to the student's learning style.

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

Pen, paper, hand-held models (lesson pending), videos, worksheets, images, and the Internet!