What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that every student has the capacity to learn and that it is our job as educators to find the best way in order to teach. All students learn best in different ways, and I look forward to working with each person to find how they best learn.

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

During an initial tutoring session, I prefer to spend some time first getting to know the student. It is important for me to understand what each person's interests are so that I can incorporate those interests into our sessions as much as possible. When a student enjoys the content they are working on, it becomes easier to learn.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

There are a variety of ways to help a student stay motivated, but the success of any motivational strategy depends completely on the student. It is the job of a teacher to determine which strategy works best and be willing to change strategies if necessary. It is common, especially when working with younger students, to change motivational strategies frequently.

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

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, it is important to first identify that the student has all the prerequisite skills needed to master the skill at hand. If they do, then it becomes necessary to change the way in which the material has been presented. Many times, students need a hands-on approach in order to master a new skill. It is also important to link the new skill to any and all prior knowledge the student has.

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

If a student is struggling with reading comprehension, there are several steps to take. First, it is important to ensure that the practice reading material is short and interesting to the student. After reading the passage, it is important to model answering comprehension questions correctly and identifying where in the passage the answer was found. When the student feels comfortable with the modeling process, it is time for him/her to start answering the questions with prompting from the teacher. The teacher should also help identify where the answers come from in the passage during this stage. When the student becomes a master at answering questions with help, we would move on the answering questions and identifying the location of the answers more independently until the skill is mastered.