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

Watch their work closely- some time they can get the right answer but are lacking a deeper understanding that can be revealed if they explain why they do each step of a problem.

What is your teaching philosophy?

Only subjects that aren't understood are uninteresting. Anything can be interesting once it is understood fully!

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

Get to know them and where their knowledge is at. What are their strong points? Why are those their strong points?

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

Dig down and find out why they are having difficulty. Take a step back and go over some subjects they do know to gain confidence, because they CAN understand the subject.

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

Go over exercises that they are comfortable with, and let them realize they can understand the subject if they try hard enough!

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

Everyone communicates differently. Adapting to other's communication styles is just part of how I work. I know how I learn, but understand it isn't how everyone learns. I check in to make sure I am communicating clearly.

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

If it's math, one thing I like to incorporate is graphing software on the computer. It's a very powerful visual aid for more subjects than you think!