What is your teaching philosophy?

From Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet: "The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness."

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

Arrive 15 minutes early, and stand and greet them as they arrive with a firm hand shake, while looking them in the eye. I would then move to ask questions about everything they love, and give them my answers for the same questions. I will also lay out my ground rules for respect by modeling them, and see where we want to get better!

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I plant seeds of information as we go, and frame questions and present obvious stark answers that tie back to those seeds and are clearly right or wrong, to guide connection and develop efficacy.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Constant praise of effort and success in the face of adversity, in addition to creating some level of reward system.

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

Explore the breadth of understanding, and build on it by tying in already known concepts and whatever element of something they love to bridge the gap.

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

Get it down to the phonetic basics using flashcards to recognize vowel sounds, pepper in some comic strips for comprehension/visualization, find what works, and build from there.

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

Talk about things they love and build them into our process of learning; find a rhythm and build.

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

Tie it into something they love, show them how it works, why it works, and why it matters.

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

Have them call it back to me by explaining what we learned in their own words, or have them show me they understand in some form of informal assessment.

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

Give them opportunities to practice said skill on a scaled approach to help them pick up self-efficacious momentum.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Observe, listen, and note where they get hung up as we work together.

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

I have a pretty good sense of picking up how people thrive, and I see where the strengths and weaknesses are before tailoring my approach.

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

Flash cards, comic strips, and literature revolving around what the student loves.