What is your teaching philosophy?

Education not only helps students to succeed in school, but empowers and motivates people. As a teacher (or tutor), you have the power to motivate students and give them a new confidence they did not have before. To effectively do this, a teacher must relate the material to the student's lives and be capable of teaching material in more than one way.

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

In a first session, I like to introduce myself and let the student know I am also a student. I like to ask students about what they enjoy because it helps me to better connect the material to their lives, helping to make it more interesting. Then, we will go over what they want to get out of tutoring- understanding concepts, catching up if they are behind, learning organizational or study skills, or doing better on tests. We will then jump into whatever they would like to cover that session. I wrap up the session with what I would like them to work on before our next session, and then schedule our next session. If possible, I also like to get an idea of the kind of schedule the student is looking for.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I can help a student to be an independent learner by providing them with study skills and note taking skills, and explaining how they can use online resources to their advantage. When working with math students, I like to talk about the "why" behind things so they have a deeper understanding of the material, and are able to use that information and apply it to other math problems.