I guess my tutoring philosophy is to find out where the student's at, respect it, and then help them get where they need to go.
I taught first year writing at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and at Florida State University, some literature at SIUC, and a first year poetry writing course at FSU, as well as a creative non-fiction writing course at the sophomore or junior level, and every semester I spent time working in I one-to-one contexts with each writing student. I also worked for many years at the writing centers of both the universities I taught at, where I held sessions with individual students as the norm.
Working one-to-one keeps both of us more engagedboth student and tutor/teacherfor at least the time of the session. I'm not saying the student's attention is always absolute, but it's a little tougher to wander when someone's looking right at you, even if it's online. It's more challenging for both tutor and student in some ways, but much more helpful for the student and, most of the time, more enjoyable for both of us, too.
I have an interest in poetry, particularly of the last hundred to hundred and fifty years, jazz dating up 'til yesterday, classical music up to now, history, politics, NFL, baseball, movies of various eras and quality, tv the same.
As an undergrad I took several courses in 16th and 17th century poetry, and have an interest in Irish literature in English, particularly the Ulster poets who came up in the sixties and seventies but many others as well.
I was a fellow at the National University of Ireland at Galway for the first four months of 2002, which involved getting paid for walking around Galway Bay, reading a stack of Irish poets, and writing.
The best job EVER.
I've been pretty lucky, and I think that sitting with students and talking about their writing is probably the most enjoyable work I've ever done.