What is your teaching philosophy?

Teaching should be an interactive experience rather than one person instructing another. Building a trusting relationship with the student you are working with is an essential component to understanding their strengths and weaknesses.

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

I would spend time getting to know the student; learn more about their interests and background; what their goals are in life and what they wish to fulfill in the upcoming period. I would then look over the course outline and content, and establish a plan that would work for the student and teaching methods that they would prefer (visual vs auditory).

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Organization is key. Being able to set an agenda and follow through with it can help any student accomplish any task. It is important to help them set realistic goals based on their learning style and not overwhelm them with stressful study schedules. Guiding the student into utilizing their best learning methods could assist in retaining and understanding the content (using notecards, charts, drawings, videos...).

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I'd start by showing them how they have progressed from session to session, and how much they have learned and improved throughout time. I would advise them to focus on the goal at hand-- that working hard will enable to reach their goals and help them have the future or career they have always desired.

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

Change the current teaching method. I would communicate with the student and try and explain the content in a different, yet simplistic manner. Evaluate the student after every few minutes to see if they could explain what they were just taught. Determining whether the method used was effective.

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

I would assist them by providing them with a strategy. Inform them to start off by having an overview of what the intended subject being covered is by skimming over the topics and headings. Read over each section, generate questions to test their understanding, and after completing the section, they can go back and try and summarize the key concepts that were covered.

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

Getting to know the student, their interests and what methods they have used in the past to study. This would give me an overview of which learning methods the students prefer, and how effective or ineffective it was in the past.

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

Explaining to them the content by using examples that would integrate their hobbies or interests. Have interactive sessions with quizzes and discussions that would enable me to ensure that the student is fully engaged at all times.

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

Quiz them after every session and in the beginning of the following session. This will allow me to identify the content that the student did not fully grasp before moving forward.

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

Show them progress, where they started and where they are today. Showing progression always raises a student's confidence in that the work they put in paid off.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Using an assessment that would enable me to know the student, their strengths and weaknesses, goals, learning habits, and what they want to achieve, it will aid in determining how to adapt and teach the student using the most effective method.

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

I would try different methods (images, video, discuss...) and see which ones helped the student understand and retain the most content after each section. The one with best results would be the one that would be implemented.

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

I would use images and videos if needed. Also, I would utilize questions covering the content being studied to assess the student's understanding. I would use the student's study material as the primary source, and use online resources to complement the present content that is still unclear to the student.