What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that education is the key to everyone’s success for every student. As an instructor, I hope to motivate the students in ascertaining their inner strengths and abilities and discovering what truly inspires them. I aim to provide a stimulating learning environment that encourages students to trust their own opinions while fostering confidence in order for students to realize their full potential.

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

Get to know the students, find their struggles, and learn their learning methods. Is it visual, is it hands on, or is it listening? Once I know their learning methods, it will make the tutoring a good learning experience.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Show them different ways to learn the material by taking better notes, listening more, maybe moving up to the front of the classroom, using flashcards, etc..

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Find the struggles and find a solution to make the struggles better; once the struggles are solved, the motivation will come after. The motivation is important, and this will keep you wanting to learn more.

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

Take one paragraph, have the students read it, and have them tell me what they understood from the paragraph. After that, we will read sentence by sentence and have a discussion on what the sentence is telling you. Once this is succeeding, the student will have a better understanding. Sometimes flash cards with the words they do not understand for future references.

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

Find their struggles and find a solution by recommending flash cards, notes, or whatever will overcome their struggles. I find that this strategy of having them work out the problem, and then working it out together step by step shows them what mistake they made on the problem they worked on previously.

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

My goal is to get them to understand why they do not understand and find different ways to get them excited about the class. Different methods of tutoring will be on a trial and error, and once it is found, then the student will succeed in the subject they are struggling in. 

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

Do as many problems similar to the one we worked on together to see if they understand the material. Practicing the work over and over will make them understand the material better. At the end of the session, we will review what we worked on to make sure they understand and remember the material... This will allow some question time for the students.

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

Understanding the subject is the first and most important goal.... Once the students understand the material, they will become more confident and will be able to take the exams without getting panicked.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

In the first few minutes with the students, I will ask questions to see what their needs are, and then decide how to improve and overcome their struggles.

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

If I need to slow down to make sure the students understand, that will be needed. Sometimes, I will find examples outside of the classroom and how it related to what they are working on, and sometimes, they understand it better. Reconciling a bank account is similar to reconciling the ledgers in accounting. If I need to make pictures or simpler words, I will do that.

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

I will have papers in front of me for notes, computers, eBooks, and anything I may need to be able to help the students so we can be on the same page.