What is your teaching philosophy?

Different students learn in different ways, so the first task in any teaching relationship is to establish personalized best practice methods.

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

Ask the student about times they enjoyed learning, and about times that were especially unproductive. This way I can learn what the best (and worst) ways for them to learn are.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Teach them how to teach themselves! This requires getting to know a student quite well in order to see what works for him or her.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Focusing on students' successes and making sure to take regular breaks.

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

Try a different way of teaching that concept.

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

I have a conversation about what the student is trying to read, both before and after the actual attempt. This is to try and get the student predicting what a text will be about, which will help them to understand as they are reading.

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

The primary goal is to build trust, so during a first meeting we might not even go over material at all. A conversation to get to know the student (and how they feel about the material) is the best place to start.

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

I might devise a small game or other system of reward-based motivation.

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

Just talking should be enough. If I detect a misunderstanding, I can suggest we review the relevant concept. For subjects that require memorization of trivia (such as state capitals or unintuitive chemical properties), short tests can be the fastest measure.

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

I construct a path through the material, where each step is not much harder than the last, and I ensure the student can complete the first step.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I'd imagine primary needs (such as "needs to improve math grades") would be supplied by a parent. Given the primary needs, I would only have to measure where the student currently stands and compute the difference.