Loren
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: California State University-East Bay - Bachelors, English
10th Grade Reading
11th Grade Reading
12th Grade Reading
Adult Literacy
College English
High School English
What is your teaching philosophy?
Learning must be accessible to all. Therefore, as an educator, it is important to be sensitive to the different learning approaches suitable to different students. With this in mind, an educator's ability to be versatile and creative to cater to each student's learning needs is crucial not only to the growth of the student but also to the growth of the educator professionally-- and this, truly, is the most rewarding aspect of teaching.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Typically, I'd get to know the student first. I want to learn what the student likes to do as a hobby and which subject he/she enjoys the most. This allows me to get a sense of the student's learning styles.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
Since it is important that students have a sense of independence, there are different approaches that I have used to attain this goal. I have found scaffolding tests or making any kind of slight modifications to their homework helpful. This allows students to see a pattern of how to approach their tasks, which they then internalize and use on the next one. Furthermore, this allows students to finish their tasks giving them a sense of independence.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
It is important for me as an educator to always make sure that the student is actively engaged in the learning process. This ensures motivation; at the same time, it's important to give do-able challenges to keep them motivated.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Making specific modifications/accommodations can be done so that the student can better understand a skill or concept. Moreover, this may include scaffolding material.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
I like to go over each reading material in chunks. This means that we read one paragraph and closely analyze it and annotate the text with comments on the margins. This ensures that the student is understanding the story as he/she reads along.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
It's important for me to start slow and get to know the student first and his/her learning process. I do this by starting with easy tasks.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
I've found that giving praise and focusing on the positive aspects of his/her learning process, even if the subject is tough, is the most effective way of getting the student engaged and excited.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
I like to follow up with questions at the end of each explanation that I give the student. I like to ask redundant questions just to make sure that the student is truly following me, so that if he/she doesn't, I can take a step back and elaborate further.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
Giving praise.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
I evaluate a student's need based on his or her weaknesses and strengths. I don't like to focus on the student's weakness as a point to determine how the student can learn best, but I like to also look at his/her strengths and build on that.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
I like getting to know the student as much as I can. This allows me to gauge the student's needs based on how he/she reacts to my instruction.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
I like to use both visuals and online resources.