Kenneth
Certified Tutor
Undergraduate Degree: Freed Hardeman University - Bachelors, Theology
Graduate Degree: Missouri State University-Springfield - Current Grad Student, Education
Hunting, Fishing, Outdoors activities. Reading and puzzles
American Literature
AP English Literature and Composition
Elementary School Math
Elementary School Science
High School English
High School Level American Literature
Insurance License
Middle School Reading
Middle School Reading Comprehension
Middle School Science
Middle School Writing
Other
Professional Certifications
Study Skills
Study Skills and Organization
What is your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy is to promote positive learning; to spark learner enthusiasm for learning; to provide a strong foundation for lifelong learning. I enjoy applying a wide variety of strategies based on essential educational principles encompassing cognitive functioning, learning theory, diversity issues, and instructional planning and assessment.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
One of the first things I can do to promote independent learning is provide students with opportunities to self-monitor. You can encourage your students to self-monitor by helping them develop their use of self and peer assessment to see whether the strategies they were using were effective for achieving learning goals. Another way to promote independent learning is to develop communication that includes language focused on learning. We can also encourage students to be reflective. Let them keep track of their learning and reflect on their progress.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
Have students start with the question, not the answer. Memorizing information is boring. Discovering the solution to a puzzle is invigorating. Present material to be learned as a live question begging to be explored. Always encourage students to beat their personal best. Connect abstract learning to concrete situations. Apply abstract theories and concepts to a real-world scenario, using these formulations to analyze and make sense of situations involving real people and real stakes.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Go back to the core concepts and teachings involved to help increase understanding of the skill or concept. Sometimes you have to back up a little to help with understanding.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
During reading, they might monitor their understanding, adjusting their reading speed to fit the difficulty of the text and "fixing" any comprehension problems they have. After reading, they check their understanding of what they read. Several steps can be used to help with this. I teach: identify where the difficulty occurs, identify what the difficulty is, restate the difficult sentence or passage in their own words, look back through the text, and look forward in the text for information that might help them to resolve the difficulty.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
I always pre-test or do a small talk survey to see where the student's present level of understanding is. This helps me to develop a plan of study to fit their needs.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
Help them see the application to "real" life and how they can apply it. When a student sees that a subject is not just "school work" but is something they can really use, they are more motivated.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Keep it 'bite-sized.' Do not overload the student at any given time. Look into the future. Before a lecture, give students a prediction activity. For example, tell them you will be lecturing on Shakespeare and ask them to predict what you will say, or give them a set of true/false statements and ask them to take their best guess. Give them a voice and a choice. Let them help in decisions on their learning objectives.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
Have the students do a "Brain Dump." After learning new material for a set period of time, have students do a brain dump on a blank piece of paper. This serves the purpose of helping the student realize that learning and knowledge acquisition have been happening. It helps to raise student confidence and is also a useful approach for the teacher to receive feedback and see where gaps exist. Another way to build student confidence is "Say It Out Loud". When students encounter material for the first time, it is helpful if they can talk it out with a peer or teacher. This might be in the form of dealing with a vocabulary word, a scientific concept, a math problem, or a verb tense in a world language. The verbal processing that takes place in conversation with a trusted peer or teacher settles the learner, provides an opportunity to try out the language associated with the new topic, and arms him or her with confidence.
How do you evaluate a student's needs?
Pre-testing and evaluation are key. I then conduct probes throughout the lesson to look at progress and evaluate their needs.
How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?
I adapt my lessons according to the progress the student is making. Sometimes you may need to go back and cover a topic more, or perhaps move forward if the student seems to be mastering the subject.
What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?
I use computers, visual aids, worksheets, textbooks, etc.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Get to know them. "People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care". They need to know I care about them as a person and not just a student. I will also evaluate where they are at in the subject being taught to develop a plan.