How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Confidence is the foundation of becoming an independent learner. In my experiences, students walk into a math classroom defeated because it's "math." Through practice, the student will build confidence as they learning so that the student is ultimately accountable for their own learning.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Success is the ultimate motivator. I want students to know that the ability is there and that together we're going to achieve our goals.

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

First, present the content in a different format. Sometimes during a lesson in my class, I'll just have to back up, punt, and restart the lesson in a different way. Math builds upon previously learned concepts, and so I will go back to a concept that is understood and expand it so that new concepts can be learned.

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

To me, it's important to be able to draw out what the question is asking and what information I need to arrive at that answer. I make my students underline important information so that the other parts are not distractors.

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

It's just like any sport; practicing until you can't do something wrong is vital. I know it's not always fun to practice but you have to master the skill in order to understand and apply a mathematical concept.

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

I think the biggest thing is feeding excitement from me. I really enjoy what I do and have been doing it for more than 10 years, and I enjoy every day in the classroom.