What is your teaching philosophy?

As a teacher, I aspire to find students' individual strengths; I want to discover how the child learns, and then design lessons and assessments that are authentic and meaningful. I want students to see relevancy of both psychology and history in their lives.

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

During the first lesson, I will evaluate the student's strengths and areas of growth. I will discover how the students prefers learning and analyze their current study habits and skill sets. Then, I will set up a plan for studying and learning that is tailored to the individual.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

To become an independent learner, the student needs to know his or her own strengths and weaknesses. I will provide strategies and resources for studying, as well as for self-assessing one's own learning.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

It is important for the student to set small goals to monitor success. It can be hard to stay motivated, especially if one waits until the last minute. By spacing out learning and setting manageable goals, motivation can be better managed.

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

If I have tried to explain the answer or method and the student is still not understanding the concept, I reach out to my colleagues to get a new perspective and viewpoint. This helps me explain it differently in a way a student can understand.

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

The best practice for reading is...reading! Along with reading more, there are several adaptive learning e-tools that can help with decoding reading. There are web tools that will read to the student which enables the learner to focus on the message of the article. Whenever possible, I can adjust the reading level of the text which will help the student focus on the content more.

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

Learning is about relationships; I want to find out how the student learns and what the student is passionate about. This way, I will be able to create lessons or analogies that are more meaningful to the student.

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

Relevancy and passion are intertwined with excitement and engagement. My goal is to have the student find that meaning within the subject area.

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

It is important to have frequent checks for understanding; by doing this, we can do small, formative assessments to fix the errors prior to getting to the larger assessment at the end.

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

By setting goals and checking for understanding, we will be able to monitor success, no matter how small, which will ultimately build confidence.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

In addition to a conversation to assess their understanding, I will look at a student's prior assessments and notes.

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

Having taught for 11 years, I am comfortable making adjustments based on the students' needs.

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

When tutoring, I will first assess a student's understanding based on the assignment and standards. After this, I my use direct instruction, examples and practice, conversations, or practice exams; whatever the student needs.