What is your teaching philosophy?

Facilitating thinking, speaking and living mathematically.

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

Develop a mutual level of trust and comfort.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

By encouraging students to learn about oneself and set goals based on personal interests. Motivation comes through the desire to achieve these goals.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By continuously demonstrating myself as an independent learner and leading by example.

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

I would first find the square root of the problem. Then build a foundation of knowledge in the individual student. I would finish by creatively drawing paths between the knowledge base and the difficult skill or concept.

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

I make enunciation a point and assure that the jargon heavy math language didn't weigh down the student's reading.

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

Building a connection between the student and myself so that I can hear things from their perspective. This helps me to use art to bridge the gap between our varied mathematics knowledge base.

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

By drawing from my natural excitement for the mathematics subject (which is all of mathematics).

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

Assessing their knowledge by asking deep questions.

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

By providing genuine carrots along the path of understanding.

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

By creatively using art through examples and my own experiences.

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

Drawing, diagrams, graphs, tables are essential. I also find it helpful to have a calculator, Google, and a cup of coffee handy.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

By asking the student to demonstrate necessary math concepts through the asking of questions.