What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that interactive teaching and practicing problems is the best way to facilitate learning. My ultimate goal is leave the student with enough skills and confidence to study on their own.

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

I typical like to learn what the student knows, how they learn/study, what their challenges are, and what they expect to get out of the sessions.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I do so by making sure that the student understands the basics and attempts as many problems as they can. Also, make sure they know what they are doing wrong and why. I found these to be very helpful to students.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I have noticed that once the students see progress in their grades and they start understanding, their motivation increases a lot!

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

I try to study what skill or concept they already master to understand more about their way of thinking.

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

I have struggled with this as well! I teach my students to try a few things; reading over a paragraph twice rephrasing it the second time in a way language/way that is familiar to them, as they read over try to imagine pictures/build info-graphics in their heads, read out lout, read as if they were talking to a child. All of these techniques have helped in the past.

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

It is very important to set realistic goals, have tasks and timelines in place, build a trust, be professional, and let the student understand that I am not there to do their work for them, but help them through it.