Patrick

What is your teaching philosophy?

The curriculum must be taught in a way that presents real-world connections for the students, while taking into consideration their individual needs. It must be interesting, challenging, and understandable, so that the students have the opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning and so that they can achieve academic and professional success.

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

I would spend a few minutes understanding what the student's difficulties are (if any), what the student has done to overcome these barriers and what the student wants to accomplish with this course/subject matter.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Find out the reasons why the student is having difficulty, determine the student's strengths and explore ways to help increase the student's interest in learning.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Positive reinforcement, helping create an approach where the student achieves success and matching the subject material to areas of interest for the student.

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

Find reading material that is of interest to them and at a level that while they can understand it, it does challenge them. Proceed at a pace that allows the student to succeed and use repeated "check-ins" to make sure that the student is truly understanding the readings.

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

Finding out what type of learner the student is, making the material relevant and interesting to the student, and ensuring that the student achieves increasing amounts of success.