What is your teaching philosophy?

Every student has their strengths and weaknesses. My job as an educator is to tap into what makes them learn best and run with it.

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

Get to know the student and the parents. Understand where they are at in their current grade level and what material they are covering and will be covering. Also, learn about any areas they feel they are struggling in so we can build upon them in future sessions.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Build up their confidence through creating a more concrete foundation. Also, challenging them with questioning that requires them to think deeper.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Connect with their interests, and tie in fun activities into the sessions.

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

Continue to refer back to those concepts throughout our time working together. Create challenges for them to complete. Establish some incentives for improving upon those skills.

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

I focus on math, but I make sure to incorporate vocabulary into my lessons because a strong understanding of the vocabulary words increases comprehension.

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

Creating a solid connection between the student. Making the sessions light and not so overwhelming. And incorporating a variety of strategies in teaching the skills to provide variety.

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

Present questions or problems they can have success in, and build upon that.

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

Include extensions, move into the next grade level material, and provide more problem-based learning.

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

With encouragement, and through building upon skills and problems they already have success with.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

With questioning, looking at their work, and by their participation during the session.

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

I evaluate a student's understanding through the session, as well as questions to them and their parents, and then structure the sessions accordingly. If the student needs more review, we will back up and hit on past skills they are not solid in. For students that need to be challenged, we will look into more level 4 questions that challenge their thinking.

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

It all depends on the student and their needs.