What is your teaching philosophy?

Setting a number of achievable, challenging, and relatively immediate goals is the key to inspiring motivation in a student of any age (although the goals themselves should change based on a student's age). Once goals are set, it's simply a matter of following through and helping them to achieve them. Once they get a taste for the carrot, the stick becomes unnecessary.

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

During a typical first session with a student, I would dive right into whatever work was most urgent, and carefully discover the ways in which that student learned best. During and after that session, I would tailor my approach to their strengths and work on showing them the fun side of whatever subject they were struggling with.