What is your teaching philosophy?

I like to let students lead the teaching experience, and support and encourage them when they need it. Students already know a lot when they come to me, so my time with them is best spent figuring out where the gaps are and helping them create more cohesive understandings so they're ready for assessments and to learn more in the future.

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

A typical question I might ask a student to get us started is "what do you know about (the concept) already?" This gives me an idea of our starting point, and lets me hear how the student talks about the concept so I can assess the level of their understanding. I would also likely ask "what do you think your teacher wants you to know about (the concept)?" to help the student think about what they need to be able to do on assessments of the concept, and give me information about what we can do to help the student reach that point.