My learning and educational philosophy is to be willing to learn new subjects, by challenging what you know and improving your comprehension on subjects or concepts you don't fully understand. This is your time to LEARN and take every given opportunity to SUCCEED well and ADVANCE forward in your educational studies.

During our first session with a student, the student will introduce the problem that he or she is having and come up with a plan to solve the problem. As a tutor, my beginning goal is to observe what the student knows. The next step is to determine the steps or review concepts in their notes and/or my notes to reach the final goal, and that is to determine the solution to the problem. Once the problem is better understood (and if time is available), we will review what was learned and proceed to a new problem following the goals I have mentioned before.

For a student to become an independent learner, the student must first be willing to learn new (and even review older) concepts. If he or she has disdain towards learning or reviewing concepts, then it will become harder for a student to retain these concepts and to advance on to new information. After having a will to learn, the next step is to ask questions as to what was learned or reviewed during the session. I'd ask these as interrogative (question) words like, "what, how, and why." If the student can confidently answer those three interrogative words, then they have a greater comprehension of the concepts. These steps can be reused or modified to help the student become an independent learner.

Once we established the goals they set out in this subject-- like what letter grade they want out of the course and how they want to better learn the concept--we can establish some steps to attempt and reach these goals. I will ask them to write up or type up their goals and use this as a reminder as to why they want to succeed in this subject/course. If they become discouraged or have self doubt, I will request/remind them to remember their write up on their goals and to keep on trying. I will request that they not give up and further push themselves because this is their work, and they should want to succeed in completing and understanding the subject.

If a student has difficulty, I will remind them to ask questions on what they don't understand about a subject or skill they are lacking in. From the questions and responses between us, we can communicate on how to solve their problem in a concept or a skill. We will use different techniques like making comparisons to real life situations, using visual resources., or using other resources to confirm a greater comprehension on the concept. As they progress during their studies and tutoring sessions, they should hopefully be stronger at comprehending unfamiliar concepts and improve overall. We will strive together for great learning!

Anything math or science related, I request them to have their textbook or notes out in front of them. From there, it will be best to dissect their notes and/or review what their teacher has taught them from their notes and handouts. From my experience as a student to now tutoring students, being confused at what was discussed during a recent lecture, I noticed my notes would not make complete sense. If the notes or information does not make sense, then a student is heading for disaster. With my assistance, I can make sure students comprehend their notes, and can utilize their notes to solve any math equation or analyze a scientific theory. Another approach I like is visual aid, in the form of PowerPoints and/or diagrams. By having a visual source, they can make a connection with a math or science concept. This can greatly improve one's comprehension by making accurate connections.

To get a student excited or engaged on a subject, I will request them to make a real world connection to a math or science concept. If their attempt is not strong enough or accurate enough, I will suggest an idea and we can either draw it out or verbally discuss this connection. While stimulating their desire, I will give them encouraging remarks.

I say to students that you have an idea of this concept, but might not fully understand what it means. Most students I work with state the common expression of "I don't know "or "All of it does not make sense." From my experience, we sit down, discuss their issues, and then I either guide them through the steps or they tell me step by step how to answer the question. I remind them again with encouraging remarks of either "Awesome work" or "Winning," and their smile and assurance of knowing the material makes me feel content of their comprehension, knowing they can do it!

I evaluate a student's needs based on the issues they discuss with me, by viewing the problems given to them, and I answer their questions to the best of my ability. I require them to practice regularly and come back to me for questions if they need to, and also to go and discuss their issues with their teacher. I make sure a student receives adequate examples of the concept or information to be able to tackle these areas to the best of their ability. Hopefully their needs will be fulfilled while I am their tutor during our sessions.

Since there is not just one way of tutoring or "teaching" a student, I have found multiple ways of reaching my student's learning needs. If a student is strictly by the book, I will request they become familiar with the entirety of it, from cover to cover. I have dealt with visual learners, so my approach with them is to have a visual aid in the form of PowerPoints and/or diagrams. By having a visual of the concept make a connection with a math or science topic, this can greatly improve one's understanding. Some students are dependent learners, who will not confidently answer the question, and will cling to my suggestions and their teacher's suggestions. I will guide them to the best of my ability without exposing the answer. For independent learners, they may have a step they don't fully understand, and by reminding of the step they can go solve the problem without wanting or needing further assistance. However, during the complete tutoring sessions, we will discuss and I will reciprocate the answers needed for a student to gain a better understanding of the material.

I am a strong believer in textbooks and/or notes, since my scholars will need to use these sets of information when we are not in tutoring sessions. We can definitely make sure their notes are legible and informative enough for them to comprehend when not in session. Since I will tutor math and science subjects more, I strongly suggest having a calculator (basic for arithmetic type problems, or scientific calculators for dealing with graphing for mathematics courses and computing complex numbers in science-math related subjects). If lacking any notes, I do have formulas for math and science courses, and will upload or hand these out to discuss during tutoring sessions. I like to remind my students to use as many sufficient resources as possible to help solve their problems.

I will generally first tell them to breathe. A lot of students I have worked with become extremely anxious and doubtful, but by giving them a sense of calmness they will feel less anxious and more focused at solving the problem. The next step is to address the problem they are having by discussing what they know about the problem. We discuss the steps they learned, or I suggest the steps to take, and then most times students can solve the problem. I request next to review what was learned, to see if they have a better comprehension. If they mess up, I ask them to start from their mistake and continue, and they do extremely well at comprehending that. Lastly, I ask students before the end of the session to continue practicing on the math problems or science problems to get stronger at solving them, and they can use these steps in the future.