What is your teaching philosophy?

I ignite in students the innate desire to learn. Instead of teaching the students or talking at them, we have a conversation, and I allow them to discover the answer for themselves based on what they know and their resources.

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

In the first session, we might spend a few minutes getting to know each other! There's no use learning from one another if we don't know or like each other. Then, we might talk about the subjects we'll go over and how you feel about them in general.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Ignite in them a desire to learn, and then help them learn to use their resources effectively!

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Talk about what they like and what they want, and help them relate what they're learning to what they like, and why it matters.

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

We would go about different ways of learning the difficult skill or concept, and then once one clicks, we'd spend a LOT of positive and productive time doing it!

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

Asking questions rather than telling facts.

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

Praise any improvements or achievements, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant! Make no student feel like they cannot.

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

Asking questions! Independent multi-concept questions as well.

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

Ample praise whenever they make an improvement or achievement, no matter how small!

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Discussing with them first, followed by an assessment of practice and example problems.

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

Use the routes of teaching and learning that the student relates with most! These will be discovered over a short time working with the students.

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

A whiteboard and dry erase markers.

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

Sounding things out! Identifying each part of the sentence and what they mean. Putting the sentence in context and relating it with the last sentence and the next sentence.