What is your teaching philosophy?

My goal in teaching or instructing others is for them to acquire self-questioning skills in order to become a self-learner, a critical thinker, and be able to use these skills throughout all aspects of life and responsible decision making.

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

Learn about the student's background, their perspective of the course and areas where they are constrained in their learning and understanding.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Encourage them to see many different views of the material they are learning, and help them see the value of what they are learning in their daily lives.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Help them identify with a personal goal that their learning is contributing toward. I believe all motivation ultimately must be personally meaningful.

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

Through questioning I would identify the specific area that is creating the confusion, and focus the tutoring efforts in that area through various types of learning- spatial, auditory, kinesthetic, or visual.

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

Help them to create context to their learning so they are not must mechanically "reading words", but also creating comprehension my learning relative to other subjects or interests.

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

Find out exactly where they are with respect to the subject, their interest, their objectives, and their relationship to their teacher/classroom environment.

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

Encourage them to gain some small wins. Help them see their areas of success and build upon them.

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

Ask them to restate the problem in a different way. Ask them to answer the problem from a different perspective.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I would work to understand the context that the student is working from, including interests, risks, goals, time-management, and personal aspirations.

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

Work to identify common ground and similarities in our backgrounds so the student has greater confidence in trusting me as a tutor.

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

My primary materials would be a textbook first and foremost, followed by real-world examples that the student could identify within their own life and experiences.

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

Assist them in placing priority in the material in order to demonstrate proficiency through exams, oral presentations, and leadership opportunities.