What is your teaching philosophy?

Education is like Pandora's box. There are so many keys around us, but only one special key can unlock it. When it comes to education, that special key is teachers.

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

I would start my tutoring sessions by first getting to know my student's interest and their struggles. Sometimes students struggle in a subject because they are just not interested in it. My goal is to find out what the student is interested in and bring that particular interest into the subject that they are struggling with.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

With lots of modeling and guided practice until they feel comfortable to step out of their own.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Motivation works well when the student is actually interested in what he or she is working on. I would first help them become interested in the subject again, and then help them create measurable goals that are easy to achieve. Sometimes the goals we set are too big and can be broken up into smaller ones. So instead of saying "I want to get bring my F up to an A," they would instead set a goal of getting a 100 on homework or a passing grade on the next quiz. Once they achieve that goal, they will be motivated to create and achieve another one.

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

I would take the concept and flip it into a learning game so that they can understand it in a fun way.

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

By bringing in reading materials that they find interesting, and making sure it's a real comprehension issue and not the student just finding the reading material not interesting. If it is a comprehension issue, then I would make sure that the student is reading at the right level by doing a running record, and then work on reading styles and fluency first, and move on from there.

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

Finding what they like and adding it into the learning experience somehow to reprogram their brain from thinking they can't do something to "hey, this is easy!".