What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that teachers should use any and all methodology to promote student learning and engagement with learning to lead the student to his or her utmost potential.

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

After reviewing the information presented by the parents, I would administer a short assessment to gauge what the student does or does not know. I would help them with any pressing assignments and spend some time getting to know the student.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By instilling a love of learning and a confidence level in learning and building up the independent reading level of the student, learning will become more innate and independent.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Motivation is achieved by creating opportunities for small achievements. These small rewards can lead to bigger rewards and keep the student interested in the learning process.

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

I would follow the strategy of I do, we do, and then you do, and continue scaffolding the instruction until the student is more confident in the skill.

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

I help students struggling with reading comprehension by introducing them to high interest text on the student’s independent reading level. We can use this text to answer inferred questions dealing with comprehension concepts.

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

Interest inventories, learning styles inventories, strategies that help me learn more about the student

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

Hook the subject to something that is high interest to the student, couple the subject with an interesting reward system, and make the learning fun.

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

Ask the student to synthesize or apply the learning in some way; use periodic checks for understanding.

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

You draw upon a student’s strengths to instill confidence in areas that may not be as strong.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

There are several ways to evaluate a student's needs. One way is through observation of the student performing learning tasks. Informal assessment and formal assessment can also be used.

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

You have to be tuned in to the engagement of the student in the activity. If engagement is lacking, then the method of tutoring needs to change.

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

It depends on the age of the student. With younger students I would use basic manipulatives, stuffed animals and puppets. For older students I might use whiteboards and more complex manipulatives.