What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy can be summed up in one word, which is "support." I act as a learning coach to facilitate the best way to enhance a student's understanding of a subject.

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

Introduce myself, and have the student explain what he wants me to do to help him achieve his scholastic goals.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I do this by offering different resources that may help the student understand the problem from different angles, especially visually or by activity.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I would help a student stay motivated by reminding him of any real-world applications that the subject may have for him personally that he can relate to on his own.

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

Keep offering him different ways to approach the problem, especially by doing research on the topic.

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

I would help reading comprehension by reading aloud short passages and breaking them down to discuss relevant terms.

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

I find that if I let them lead the way, I can most often see where they are making an error and stop to help them.

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

I would have some activity that would be geared towards their strengths that would be fun and still maintain academic rigor or standards.

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

1. Verbal questioning 2. short quiz 3. portfolio activity

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

By sharing research and relevant activities with a step-by-step learning scale.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Generally, by looking at grades and talking to both the student and the guardians. Contact with the classroom teacher helps too.

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

I usually am low-key to start, and then ramp up based on my relationship with the student.

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

Textbooks, articles and computer-assisted notes.