What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is if you can raise a student’s confidence with a lesson, it’s more helpful than anything else is. I've struggled over the years with certain subjects and can completely understand what it’s like to be a frustrated student. I want to try and show students that they can do it, and with that confidence boost to go back at the lesson with a better attitude, thus a better gain of knowledge.

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

I would get to know my student while also finding out where the problem might lie with the problem with the subject. I would ask the student's thoughts on preferred methods of tutoring lessons. If I can raise the student's comfort level then I find that I can be much more helpful to them.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I played football for a long time, and I played several seasons on a losing team. The biggest thing I learned doing that was how to keep fighting and to not give up. I would continue to build up the confidence of the student to help maintain the drive to succeed.

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

I would break it down to its most basic concepts and start from there. Rome wasn't built in a day, and because of that baby steps sometimes are needed to fully understand the material.

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

I would personally try and relate the subject to something in their life. I found that always helped for me personally.

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

I would give them a small number of easier conceptual questions to make sure the idea is understood, then a more quantitative question to find if a complete understanding is achieved.

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

Confidence is built with victories. I would start the student out with easier conceptual teachings and make sure that is grasped before moving on to more quantitative questions. I find this works in a "stepping stone" manner to get the student to find that they can do it.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I would just ask them, and if I find that something isn't working I would change it to find the best method. I'm an engineering student, and cutting away all the math and science from it, engineering is finding out what needs to be done and trying different methods until the most optimal way is found.