What is your teaching philosophy?

In eighth grade, I decided that I wanted to become a teacher. The learning process fascinated me and I wanted to share my knowledge and enthusiasm with future students. Upon entering the field of education, I quickly realized that teaching was much more than bestowing information upon a room of students, to be soaked up by their sponge-like brains. I came to understand that teaching is far more complex, demanding, and rewarding than I ever imagined. Like teaching in a classroom, tutoring involves more than academic content. Tutors must instruct and reinforce skills that equip students for lifelong learning and success. Tutoring is really about meeting a child where she or he is and guiding them to where they need to be for optimal learning. I am a great tutor because I understand that each student learns as an individual and that learning occurs best when tutors utilize research-based teaching strategies/best practice methods. I employ a variety of strategies that account for student interests, learning styles, and abilities.

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

In a typical first session, I would focus on getting to know the student's interests, strengths, and weaknesses. The methods used would depend on the age of the student, but I would typically use games and ice-breaker activities to stimulate conversation and to assess the student's abilities.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Students become independent learners by understanding the learning process and how they learn best as individuals. I can help a student become an independent learner by teaching him or her strategies for learning, memorization, and studying information that can be used across content areas. I can also teach a student coping strategies to help him or her work through anxiety and stress that can be associated with learning and test preparation.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I would help a student stay motivated by integrating the student's personal interests into the tutoring sessions.

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

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, I would try a different teaching method until I found one that helped the student. As a practicing educator, I have many resources in my "teacher toolbox" that I can refer to in order to help a student overcome his or her challenge.

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

I help struggling readers with their comprehension by modeling, teaching students how to monitor their comprehension, encouraging the use of graphic organizers, and utilizing questioning techniques, among other strategies.

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

When I begin working with a student, I want to understand what they know and how they feel about the topic at hand. I begin by having the student create a thinking map that demonstrates what they know and how they know it.

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

I establish personal connections between the student and the material in order to generate student excitement and engagement. For example, if a student is particularly fond of animals, but struggles with reading, I would use books and other materials that feature animals to entice the student.

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

Many techniques exist for the assessment of student understanding. Having students "teach" the material back to me and thinking maps are two ways that I determine student understanding.

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

I build student confidence by helping students create attainable goals, offering praise, providing choice in learning activities, allowing student to build on their strengths, and being positive and encouraging.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I evaluate a student's needs using performance-based prior knowledge assessments, student self-assessments, concept maps, and typical classroom assessment techniques.

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

Adapting to a student's needs requires me to "think on my feet" and utilize my training to adjust instruction on the spot. For example, I would work with the student to create mnemonic devices for information he or she is struggling to remember. By having the student be a part of the creation process, that device will be much more meaningful.

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

The materials required for a tutoring session can differ based on the subject matter. For an in-person session, though, I typically use paper, pens, pencils, markers, a ruler, and a calculator.