What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy places the upmost importance on the student, as I do not try to impose my own material on each student that I tutor. Each student has individual needs in terms of understanding the material, and I consistently adapt to the requirements of everyone that I tutor. This way, I can ensure that I am effective in ensuring that my student performs their best, understands the material in great detail and scores highly on examinations.

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

In a first session, I like to get to know my student academically. What subjects do you enjoy and not enjoy? Does this class in particular interest you? What are you looking to do in the future? Then, I like to identify what my student is struggling with in the particular course. Is it simply an issue of understanding the material, or are there deeper gaps in knowledge from previous required courses? I like to give several practice problems to identify exactly what the student has been struggling with. Fundamentally, the first session is for the student to tell me what they think they need from me, so that from day one, we are both on the same page.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

The best way to help a student become an independent learner is to provide him or her with the necessary organizational tools to create an independent learning environment. Over my years of tutoring, I developed organizational charts, methods of testing and memorization, and ways of approaching practice problems that would help any student become an independent learner. If a student understands these tools, he or she can apply them to any particular subject, and slowly learn to study completely on their own. Furthermore, independent learning is largely dependent on organization and time management. I would communicate a particular studying schedule to my student, which could then be adjusted and modified based on the individual needs of the student.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

The key to keeping a student motivated is to share passion about the particular subject and relate it to everyday occurrences. For example, Calculus can be an extremely tedious subject for many students, as looking at numbers and letters on a page does not scream interesting. However, Calculus is something I'm extremely passionate about, and constantly being excited about the topic will make the tutoring session feel exciting and upbeat. Furthermore, Calculus is used constantly in the world around us, to calculate sports probabilities and to make money on the stock market. Showing the real world applications of the topic can make it feel useful to the student. I will help keep a student motivated by helping the student set goals, both in the grade and level of understanding that he or she wants to achieve. In this way, the student is constantly working to satisfy the individual goal, thus creating a more interesting challenge.