What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that student/client goals and interests matter, and understanding these equips me to better reach them in learning. They also have individual interests, strengths, and motivations, and can better learn when they can relate to the content through their goals and interests, and when instruction can be altered to fit.

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

I would ask them to tell me about themselves and their goals, and I would also share my experience in these areas. I would review content, homework, assignments, or tests that they wish to work on, so we can prioritize it together. Then we can begin to work.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

First of all, I think a student can begin to work independently if they can relate their goals to their interests-- if we can build their motivation to learn. Then next step is to help them recognize what their strengths are so they can focus on making gains on their own before we meet, so we can work on the things they are having a more difficult time with. Lastly, planning for a realistic independent study schedule that they agree is doable for them so we can make gains even when not working together.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

It helps if the student can track their progress, so that they can measure how much closer to their goal they are than they were before. Then we will make new connections to interests and personal goals (different from academic goals), which can change from one week to the next.

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

Scaffolding the learning so the student has the language or related skills for answering the assignment or problem. Then we work connect it to real life when possible, and use live objects, online resources or pictures as we go. Doing related tasks or repeating the process to improve understanding. Lastly, having the student review and explain the process to me, so I can provide feedback to what they are learning.

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

We can do pre-reading discussion and activities that will help them connect to ideas in the text. As we are reading, we can utilize a variety of strategies in reading: modeled reading, shared reading, independent reading, stopping to make new connections, to personal experience, other texts, movies they've seen, events in the news, the assignment that is due, and finally discussion after the reading about what surprised them and what was interesting. The more discussion we can generate and the more connections they can make to personal interests and experience, the better chances we have for strengthening comprehension.