What is your teaching philosophy?

Learning is a lifelong process and should occur due to interest, not fear of consequences. By providing scaffolding and strategies, students can learn.

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

The first session is always used to establish rapport, find out what matters to the parent and student, and assess where to begin instruction.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By providing learning and information retaining strategies, learners can be given the tools to become independent learners.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

My investment and caring attitude will help keep a student motivated. Because I add manipulatives, visual aids, and multiple explanations when needed, students will stay motivated.

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

Multiple strategies can often be utilized to help a student better understand a topic.

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

There are many strategies which help with reading comprehension. Learning how to stop routinely and take short notes can help. Acting out portions of the text helps as well. Discussing or explaining small portions of the plot as you read will also help solidify information. It is important to note that comprehension may be difficult for those living with special needs and those who are not yet fluent readers. It may become necessary for the tutor or parent to work on comprehension skills, in part, by reading aloud rather than forcing the child to read and comprehend while still working on basic reading/decoding skills. As skill levels raise, students can work on both fluency and comprehension at the same time.

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

Each student has been different. It is important to focus on the individual which means that this question will be answered differently depending on which student(s) we discuss.

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

You have to find a topic the student enjoys. Does he love dinosaurs? Then create math problems with dinosaur themes.

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

If a student can show you how to work through a problem on paper or verbally, then you know he/she understands.

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

Set the child up to succeed. This may mean working below the frustrating zone at times, but confidence building will help students feel positive about trying new tasks even if they may fail the first few times they try.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Parent, student, and work samples help assess student needs.

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

I am happy to use materials the student has, for example homework, as well as the online platform's practice problems and information from my teacher files or the Internet.

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

If a student needs more visuals and less teacher talk time, then I provide this. If a student needs more examples, I can work with that as well. It really depends on the student.