What is your teaching philosophy?

Learning is only a successful process if it comes from within the student. With few exceptions, students only need help re-framing their perspectives to better understand what questions they need to ask. Most big problems, whether they be in our understanding or anywhere else, are just a series of small problems stacked on top of one another.

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

After introducing ourselves, I would ask students why they sought out a tutor and to what degree have they already made an attempt to learn the material. We would discuss the scope of the material yet to be learned and try to understand, in a broader sense, where gaps in understanding still exist.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

The first step is to empower the student and make sure they understand that they are 100% capable of learning the material. From there we build an arsenal of skills to conquer difficult problems. The following are some examples of those skills: 1. Constructing metaphors to interpret the material in a more easily digested context. 2. Isolating and correcting gaps in understanding in the words in the material text or problem. 3. Reverse-engineering similar answers from different sources. 4. Knowing when to take a break and step back from the problem.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I find all of the subjects I teach to be interesting in some way or another. I can always find external sources that validate the importance of learning the subjects I teach. If that doesn't work, then the goal is to help the student understand their broader goal and why they came seeking help in the first place. The best way to approach this is by asking the student "Even if we can't solve the problem, what CAN we do right now?" Small amounts of progress, when treated as such, even just finding out what question needs to be asked, typically give students a huge motivation boost.

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

I would ask the student a little more about himself or herself and find out if they are interested in a topic I can use to create a parallel analogy to the subject. Typically, I ask the student to follow through and try to make conclusions themselves about why I might be modeling the concept in such a way. This also is very effective at helping students learn to build their own analogies.

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

Reading comprehension typically comes down to a lack of understanding of vocabulary or context. For vocabulary, I help the student translate the difficult language into simpler language with the use of the internet. Drawing conclusions based on context clues is typically a matter of asking "Well, what can we say for sure with our limited understanding?" This gives the student some ideological ground to stand on before moving forward.

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

Most students need to understand that their obstacles are typically associated with a lack of personal confidence in the subject, which is best solved by reinforcing even very minute progress, including finding the right questions to ask. The other biggest strategy is helping students isolate larger issues into a series of smaller and smaller problems, and slowly adding back in new factors as their understanding grows.

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

There are two ways of going about this: 1. Help the student see the subject in a very small, but relate-able context by re-framing or providing an analogy. 2. Help the student see the subject in a broad and profound context, typically as it relates to the whole world or the country, etc.

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

Students can prove that they understand the material when they can generate their own examples and explain them.

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

A student's confidence stems from a belief that they can be successful. This means enthusiastically verbally rewarding every tiny victory made, even if it is a small step towards understanding where the gap in understanding exists.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Asking a student what they believe the problem is always is the first step. If that proves unsuccessful, then I follow along as the student explains his or her reasoning as they make an attempt at solving the issue. This means asking them to explain the purpose of every element in the material, oftentimes down to the word.

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

This really depends on the subject material, but I enjoy using a whiteboard for a lot of topics-- especially STEM subjects. Google Docs also provides an easy to collaborate work space.