What is your teaching philosophy?

Every student has different strengths, and as we learn, we learn what these strengths are. I will maximize ability while minimizing failure. I aim to do this through fun and discovery of passion for the subject matter.

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

To begin, I will introduce myself and my background, and hope my student does the same. We'll discuss problem areas and strength areas, and try to decide what the student enjoys. From there, we can begin the learning process, ever molding it to fit changes and passions.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

What has always worked for me in the past is passion and drive to learn. Fostering this is difficult, but by connecting with a student through shared interests and experiences, passion grows. And a few extracurricular assignment suggestions never hurt.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Motivation is desire. I would explain the positive outcomes should the student pursue this, and these outcomes go far beyond the realm of a classroom. I would inspire motivation by finding every human being's inherent desire to learn and explore. It's just a matter of uncovering that motivation through getting to know the student on a mentor/mentee level.

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

This would be a problem area. I'd approach this twofold. First - identify what causes the problem and attack that at its root through relearning and different teaching processes and examples. Second - don't stay so focused that my student becomes frustrated. Move on to an area they are comfortable with to build confidence and knowledge, then return later to the problem.

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

Reading comprehension is a problem we've all faced. It has a simple enough solution, though: more reading. Find a level the student is comfortable in and allow them to read from there. Build up an ability to comprehend at that level, then up the difficulty. This is a problem that has a simple solution but a very difficult implementation. For a quick fix, annotation and approaching questions from a narrowly defined outcome will help. But in the long run, greater time spent reading and attempting to understand and predict the story as it unfolds will benefit the student greatly.