
Fatemeh
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: University of Illinois at Chicago - Bachelors, Teaching of English in Secondary Education
Reading, Running, Yoga, Food, Organizing, Planning
College English
Comparative Literature
High School English
Homework Support
Other
Study Skills
Study Skills and Organization
What is your teaching philosophy?
Teaching is a process that consists mainly of facilitation of the learning of new concepts. Students must be in charge of their learning, and it is the teacher's job to ensure the path taken leads to progress.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
My previous students benefited greatly from learning about me and my teaching style and, more importantly, learning about them personally and their learning style. I’ve found that if I want to see positive results, I must know my students fully: their levels, their strengths, their challenges, and what I can do to ensure they can identify them.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
Students need to learn what kind of questions to ask as they approach new ideas. Becoming an independent learner comes from easing into new concepts and identifying what you know vs. what you don't. This helps reinforce information that will make growth and progress much more attainable.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
I am a very lighthearted person, but I take success very seriously. I can relate to students and find ways to connect the subject matter to their own lives so that they can make personal connections and remain motivated.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
Reading comprehension could be tricky! I will ensure that we take it a step at a time and practice lots of paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is the best way to ensure a student truly understands what they read.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Recall, reteach, and repeat. If a student truly knows the material, they would be able to teach it back to me! I love when the student is able to take charge of the tutoring session portraying what they learned in their own words.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
Positive reinforcement and constructive criticism have proven time and time again to display more confidence in a student's performance.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Practice, practice, practice. I won't give up. I am a stubborn individual when it comes to testing my student's capacity to learn. I will try new ways and investigate varying techniques until they figure it out.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Initially, I need to get to know the student on a personal level and hear them talk about their perspective on their learning capabilities. This helps build dialogue and a relationship that will boost trust levels and give me direction on how to best approach my student.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
I am a passionate person. With English, I try my best to make it as relatable as possible to the student by circling back anything at hand to the student's interests. I supplement as many examples as possible and try to see the content through their eyes.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
I am a facilitator in the classroom and as a tutor. I am here to enlighten students and ensure that they know they are the ones running the show, I am simply guiding them. I like to use positive reinforcement and constructive criticism to boost confidence so that students can be able to lead the session themselves. This way, they'll be able to tell me what areas they understand and what areas they are struggling with.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
I like to use the learning tools available on the online learning platform as well as my personal English grammar books.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
I ask many questions to determine their level of comprehension and ask to see test results and examples of their work. I also like to get input from either teachers or parents to understand the surrounding context of the student's past challenges.