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

I would get to know them and try to get a feel of their personality, interests, study habits, and background. I would also give them a diagnostic test to measure their current level of knowledge and standing in their coursework.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Rather than giving students the answer, I would walk students through the concepts, work on a few sample problems, and let them answer a few more sample problems themselves. Then, we would go over the problems they worked on together and address their weak spots. Furthermore, I would encourage a student to develop long-term study habits that suit them best, rather than cramming.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Ideally, based on my initial assessment of a student, I would try different methods. If a student is already intrinsically motivated, I would remind them of their goals and encourage them. If a student is extrinsically motivated or short-sighted, I would offer them rewards - either through a point system that can be applied to a big reward or through small candy rewards.

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

I would try and explain the skill or concept in a variety of ways (i.e. verbally, visually, physical through the use of real/3-D objects, etc.).

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

I would work slowly with the student. First, I would have them visualize the scene sentence by sentence. Then, I would have the student summarize what he or she just read after each paragraph, then after each chapter.