What is your teaching philosophy?

Philosophy of Teaching Statement “Every child should have a caring adult in their lives. And that’s not always a biological parent or family member. It may be a friend or neighbor. Often time it is a teacher.” –Joe Manchin I view children as independent learners. They are individuals who have the capability of leading the direction of their learning. They need to have a trusted adult in order to experience and explore the world, society, and its surroundings. Students can learn from teachers and vice versa. I believe that there needs to opportunities for children to be able to have self-efficacy to teach the teachers, share information, and to take risks in ways that they don’t feel as if the teachers are too authoritative and that convergent thinking is the only way that stems from learning. I believe an environment that evokes curiosity, is stimulating, challenging and that is flexible will uphold children’s interests and desires thus helping form patterns in their brains to join new learned information with previous experiences in order to make meaning. The role of the teacher is to help guide and facilitate children’s learning and development based on the needs and interests developed from the profile of the classroom learners. I believe teachers can continuously be reflecting on their work through assessments and developing new ways and strategies to make the children’s learning more engaging and meaningful to them. Also, challenging if necessary in order to reach the highest capacities of understanding and retention of the knowledge. A teacher is also seen as a scribe, storyteller, and an advocate for children and their rights. The curriculum is used for planning purposes and the textbook should be used as a teaching or learning tool. The quality of a curriculum should reflect and relate to the students and assist in making meaning of the content in order for the learners to exceed to heights as described in Bloom’s Taxonomy. The content in a curriculum should be delivered in a way that supports children’s intelligence, be authentic, engaging, and align with the content goals. Differentiation should be conducive to the learning audience as it plans and sustains children’s differences and similarities and provides a base line for the transmission of instruction. I promote diversity in all faucets. I think there is so much knowledge and experience gained when you learn from other cultures and ethnicities outside your own. It allows you to be sensitive, non-judgmental, culturally sensitive, and brings a new perspective of those around you. It provides opportunities for learners to counter act social justice issues and prejudices in their surroundings. In the process you may learn a lot of things about yourself as well. I enjoy learning from others as I would want others to learn something from me. I want to be a role model for children and to let them know that we are all different in ways, yet also share commonalities.

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

First I will get to know the student personally. I think building positive relationships is the foundation to impact student learning. Then, I would like to know more about the student's disposition and attitude towards their subject of tutor. For example, what do they feel they are good at, need more help, how do they learn best, etc. After that we will set some short term or long term academic goals and the student will be able to monitor their own growth process throughout the sessions.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

By knowing the student, I will incorporate their interests and things they like into the sessions as much as possible. I will create real life scenarios and build off of the student's background knowledge.

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

I will take as many different approaches to learning as needed. Students learn in different ways and there are many multiple intelligences. One student may learn best with visuals, another musically. So it is about finding the right avenue that best supports the students learning.

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

I will provided guided reading strategies for those students who are struggling with reading comprehension. If we can start with text that is simple and easy to follow, then I can began to ask the student comprehension questions form what they remember. I would do a walk through with the text first, and as the student is reading, ask them open-ended questions to answer, and build upon their background knowledge as well. At the end of the text, I would then ask the student to retell the story. If they need more assistance they can use puppets, or story beads.

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

I found that setting realistic short-term or long-term goals with students have been most successful. This way the student and I knows what skills we are working toward. Also, having the student monitor their own progress towards achieving those skills is helpful to bring awareness to the student. Monitoring can be done with a simple thumbs up (I get the skill) or thumbs down (need more help). When students are aware of their own progress, then they are more likely to participate.

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

First, I would relate the subject to any background knowledge they may have. Usually that would spark interest for the student. I would continuously motivate and encourage the student and work on skills that I know they can accomplish to help build their competence.

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

Start and do skills you know they are capable of doing to build their confidence, and then progress to more challenging skills to accomplish. When the student provides negative talk about themselves always turn them into positives, and let the student know you believe in them, but they also have to believe in themselves. Share your own personal experiences or struggles with the same or different subject with the student so they know that they are not alone.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Evaluation occurs continuously throughout sessions. This can be seen from student's work or discussions about the subject, which will indicate what a student need, whether it is a different approach to the skill, materials, etc.

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

I adapt by switching up the delivery approach to my teachings for students who may still struggle with a task. Also, I will adapt by providing materials and resources to support the needs of the student.