What is your teaching philosophy?

Helping students identify with what they are learning is very important to me. Helping them see that, "Yes, this does apply to me," makes all the difference.

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

Get to know them and their likes in school. What are they finding most difficult? How can I be help them get to the heart of the lesson?

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

First, I like setting a foundation for the previous lessons. Did the student understand this lesson before the next? Let's see how much they can do on their own and then step in before the lesson gets too hard.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Rewards are key. Encouragements and breaks are important to keeping a mind functioning and active. Personally, I love stickers and lists. I love being able to check things off. It makes me feel accomplished.

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

Find a different method to teach the concept. Not all students learn the same. Sometime the wording of one way can be interpreted in a wrong way. Helping students understand critical thinking is important to understanding the world around us.

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

First, let's point out some key words. People, places and things to start with; then, we can move on to verbs. What do you think the sentence is trying to say? If there are pictures, we can try to make connections to what is going on in the story. Helping the student connect to the book helps to make reading a little easier.