What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is to turn learning into a game. I believe coming up with analogies or mnemonics is a great way to consolidate and store information. I myself am a visual learner, so I turn to YouTube a lot for great video representations of material. In essence, I think the learning process should be fun, rather than confrontational, to increase engagement and comfortability with the material.

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

In the first session with a student, I will spend most of the time getting to know them and their situation. I want to know my students on a personal level to increase comfortability and on an academic level to understand grades and study habits. I will also share my background and give them the opportunity to know me. We would probably establish a study plan based on their school lecture and test dates, establish some goals, and go over a general topic.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I believe the best way to help a student become an independent learner is to help them find an interest in the material. Once they become eager to know more, they will want to dive into the material on their own. Also, I will help them establish great study habits and studying techniques that can be applied to the subject matter at hand. Once study habits are in place, the student would not feel uncomfortable tackling new information on their own.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I would help maintain motivation by establishing goals and constantly reminding them of their goals they made on the first day. I would create a laid-back tutoring environment where we tackle the information together and try to create analogies or visualize the material to further understand the concepts.

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

Practice, practice, practice! Practicing, in my opinion, is the best way to master a concept. If the material is hard to grasp, then I would incorporate videos or other tools that help simplify the material. I would help the student through the problems until I could see that they are starting to get it on their own.

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

I would tell them to slow down and really analyze every sentence that they are reading. By piecing the meanings of subsequent sentences together, the meaning of the entire paragraph can be found.