What is your teaching philosophy?

I like to start with the big picture then narrow to down to the details. All subjects connect, and interdisciplinary thinking can go a long way to truly understanding material.

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

A combination of getting to know each other both personally and academically. I'd want to make sure to identify areas of trouble and begin to address strategies for how to navigate.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Organization is crucial both in the physical and logical sense. If a student can organize themselves, their material and their ideas, he/she is bound for success.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Help them to see the whole picture. While learning a certain formula or way of using a semicolon may not seem at all applicable to their life at the moment, I always work hard to show how these little details can in fact add up to a greater understanding of the world. I also work closely with organizational tactics to maintain a good balance between work and the other joys of their life in order never to exhaust that well of motivation.

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

Read slowly! Read to yourself (out loud)! Don't get too caught in the nitty gritty details. If you don't understand a certain word, move ahead and try to grasp the concept. Did I mention reading slowly?

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

First, I would make sure to identify exactly where the skill or concept comes into play. From there we would uncover what is giving the student difficulty. I would make sure to always show how this skill ties into a larger picture, and through that we could drill into techniques to overcome that difficulty.

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

I always try to find points of common ground between myself and the student. I like to see not only where our academic strengths and weaknesses fall, but also our personal ones. From the onset, I try to help the student see why we are even learning this and where it can take us.