What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe in holistic, empathetic teaching. Students are unique and their unique strengths, experiences, and perspectives are some of the most important factors in creating an individualized teaching model that will be effective for that student.

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

We will discuss the student's accomplishments and strengths to create specific goals for our tutoring sessions. We will discuss the student's preferred learning styles and methods and agree on expectations for each other to help us guide our future tutoring sessions. We will leave the tutoring session with a concrete work plan for each of us to complete before our next meeting.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Empowering students to tap into their own resourcefulness is not only an invaluable academic skill, but is also crucial to future career success. Helping students access resources and evaluate the quality of learning resources, as well as helping students learn how to self-evaluate in a positive, constructive way will empower students to become independent learners.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I believe in the power of optimism. Helping students appreciate their own growth, and creating specific, action-oriented plans toward goals will help students stay motivated. I also think it's important to help students evaluate their own mental and emotional health, to see if they are feeling burned out or dealing with other non-academic issues that are impeding their self-motivation. Students are human, and helping them recognize their limits and learn how to maintain their emotional health is an important part of academic success.

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

I would talk to the student about their feelings on the skill and ask about their current understanding or approach. Then we would troubleshoot a few different approaches to see if we can find one that works for that student for that skill. If we can't find something together to get over the hurdles with the difficult skill, it may be an appropriate time to take a productive break. We could work on a different (but related) skill for a while, and then come back to the more difficult skill once we're refreshed and feeling confident after mastering something else.

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

It's important to break down a student's current reading habits, and evaluate where the comprehension gaps are happening. Spending time building the student's vocabulary may be an important step, or the student may just need to practice reading more slowly and intentionally. It also may be helpful to teach the student how to recognize patterns and structures in writing to help them access the content in an organized manner.

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

I think it's important for the student and I to get to know each other and really understand our teaching and learning styles. Creating expectations and concrete plans to meet those expectations is also important.

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

Finding a way to relate that subject to something else that they are already passionate about.

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

There are a lot of ways to test to make sure a student understands material and it depends on the student and the material which is most effective. These methods could include having the student teach me a review of the material, completing an essay for me, answering multiple choice questions, doing an assignment while I supervise, or simply asking the student if they understand or not.

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

I think giving students a chance to practice, and then to demonstrate mastery, is an important confidence-builder. I also think regular evaluations are important to help a student realize how much progress he or she has made.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

It depends on the student. Some students are able to describe to me their needs, and some students may need more hands-on evaluation using formal diagnostics or assignments.

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

By creating a tutoring plan together.

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

We will decide on materials to be used together, based on the student's ability level and interest.