What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is to develop strong critical thinking skills. These skills have helped me in excelling in my mechanical engineering coursework and can be applied to almost any subject. I first focus on ensuring that the principle of the topic is understood and why it is important. Then I use example problems that start out simple and slowly work up to more complex questions. This allows for confidence in understanding the basic concepts which will help when facing more difficult problems.

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

I would get to know them and introduce myself and introduce my teaching style.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Through critical thinking skills, I believe that a student can become an independent thinker and ultimately an independent learner.

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

I help that student first understand the basic concept of a subject. Then through many practice problems that increase in complexity, the student will be able to understand the concept.

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

I believe it is more successful to teach the student critical-thinking skills rather than how to solve specific problems.

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

I would build a student's confidence in a subject by first having them solve simple problems and slowly increase in difficulty.