What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that an education is a lifelong pursuit that, if approached with purpose and determination, will never cease to yield results. Therefore, my approach to teaching is process-oriented. While grades and test scores are important insofar as they serve as markers of a student's progress, they are not as significant as the actual development of a student's understanding and engagement of the material.

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

During a first session I like to go over a student's interest in the subject and their reason for hiring a tutor. Before beginning it is important to outline the student's goals, what they would like to get out of the tutoring experience; and to discuss their previous strategies in working with the material, both successful and non-successful.

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

Sometimes a student may have difficulty overcoming the specific language or format in which a concept is presented. If this is the case, it is important to try illustrating the concept in a manner that is more in line with the student's interests or with their methods of learning.

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

I attempt to break down the text into more comprehensible passages, focusing on specific aspects that may be causing the student difficulty, such as vocabulary, sentence structure, or grammar.

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

All students learn in different ways. Some are very visual; others prefer a more hands-on approach, etc. If a particular strategy does not appear to be working, it is important to keep pushing and experimenting with new methods and not to rely on a strategy simply because of its success with other students or in my own approach to the material.

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

Materials should always be dictated by the needs of the student. These may include the student's own textbooks, notecards, practice tests, etc., as well as supplementary materials that may be useful in providing the student with a different perspective on the subject.