What is your teaching philosophy?

All students can learn. Not all learn the same way.

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

I'd glad out about them and what they hope to get from tutoring. You can't determine when you've been successful until you've defined success for a specific student.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Students have to feel success in order to build confidence. Confident students start to take responsibility for their own learning.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

As long as students are experiencing success and growth, they tend to stay motivated on their own.

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

With younger students, the key is usually giving them some way to work hands-on. Older students usually just need to find a way to truly relate content to real life.

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

Comprehension is very closely related to both fluency and discussion. The first step is to re-read as many times as necessary to truly be fluent and to actually be able to think about the content. The second step is to just lead the student in discussion.

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

I feel like the first step is helping them feel comfortable, which usually means talking about a few things that are not tutoring.

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

Starting with what they already know and helping them feel successful right off the bat is a great way to get students motivated.

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

I ask a lot of questions and have students teach me how to do something.

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

Again, confidence comes from success. Starting with something that the students can be successful with is the key.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

First, by finding out where they want to go and then be starting with some basic questions to see where we're starting from.

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

I've taught everything from pre-k through college. I think about all topics as being on a continuum and have a lot of success by quickly determining where students sit on that continuum, regardless of where they're "supposed" to be.

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

Depending on the age and topic, I utilize items ranging from computers and tablets, to calculators, to books and printouts, to handout manipulatives.