What is your teaching philosophy?

Start where the student is. Focus on learning about the student and their goals at the beginning, and work every session with clear benchmarks in mind.

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

Spend time getting to know them and telling them about myself, asking them what goals they have, and assessing their current understanding.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

When I work with a student, I always explain the why - I want students to understand why an answer is correct or incorrect, so that they understand the process for future work.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Part of my initial meeting will be to figure out what motivates a student. Is it increased grades? Privileges at home? Observing their own progress? Whatever motivates them as individuals, I incorporate into my lessons.

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

Reading comprehension requires a variety of skills - grammar ability, syntactical understanding, and the ability to focus on long passages. I would assess what the underlying issue might be and work with the student to build up that skill. By breaking the issue into smaller parts, students are less likely to feel overwhelmed.

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

Listening and partnering with the student to create a clear plan of what goals they have for tutoring are the most important actions I take when I first start my work - tutoring is a team effort, and needs to be treated like one from the very beginning.

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

If a student is bored by a subject, my job is to find out how the subject connects to the things they are excited about and provide that connection during the course of tutoring. This might mean sharing examples or providing sample work that draws from the topics the student does enjoy.

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

I want students to show me mastery - I will ask them to explain their answers and defend them. I want them to be able to comment on why an answer is incorrect. I want them to be able to explain my process when I show them an example.

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

Positive reinforcement, praise, and sharing their growth over time. I take lots of notes after tutoring sessions, so I have the ability to compare early and late performance. That way, if a student starts to struggle, I can show them the growth they've achieved.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I review examples of their work, talk with the student and their parent (if applicable), and provide a brief, informal assessment during the first session that gives me a performance baseline to work from.

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

I make sure I've gotten to know the student and implement techniques that will help them connect to the material. The needs of my student always come first.

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

I will use sample question sets, practice examples, and other materials based on the subject being tutored. I will ask the student or their parent to ensure specific learning material is available during the session if the content is specific to a subject being taught in school.