What is your teaching philosophy?

Human beings learn from their experiences. Thus the most lasting and effective understanding of any subject will be built on an individual's foundation of experience.

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

My first priority is always to understand my students as individuals. I want to know who you are, and what your goals and motivations are. I seek relevant academic performance information in order to establish a starting point. From there, I can design a plan tailor-made for you.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

Independent learners believe in themselves. Every initiative taken is essentially a declaration through action: "I believe I can do this." Therefore, my number one goal in developing an independent learner is to instill confidence. There are many ways to do this - the right strategy depends on the individual.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

提供持续的成功是中国国际广播电台的机会tical. These opportunities must be tailored carefully, such that they are both appropriately challenging and absolutely attainable. The success that this creates develops internal motivation, which is the most critical. Words of affirmation, genuine positivity, and tracking and emphasizing improvement are stepping stones to kindling that motivation.

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

A personal trait of mine is that I am inclined to see many perspectives, which aids me greatly in this area. "Difficulty learning" generally means someone is trying to reconcile his or her own background of knowledge with a new piece of information, and the angles are different or a piece is missing. So my strategy is essentially to diagnose and treat: a few small questions lead to the missing piece or misaligned perspective, and then often a drawing, exercise, and/or explanation to address it.

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

Reading comprehension is a critical skill in mathematics, or any language for that matter. I find practice makes perfect here. It is well-known one can train their mind to skim or hear "the gist" of a conversation in another language. With consistent, properly-designed exercises, the same can be done to read deeply and mind the details.

What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?

I find getting to know each student is most important. Once I know someone's skills, I am able to build greater skills and confidence onto that foundation.

How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?

Each mind has practiced and built up strength, remembering things in certain contexts, such as cooking, sports, music, interpersonal relationships, etc. Often, excitement and engagement can be increased simply by relating the material to something more familiar. Other times, it is a matter of accentuating the individual's abilities and rewarding achievement as much as possible.

What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?

Frequent check-ins and small quiz like questions covering one concept at a time often help to make sure we are staying on the same page as well as aid in cementing information in a person's mind. I like to make final check-ins a little more involved with multiple steps if questions like this are relevant. When I taught full-time we referred to this strategy as "checking for understanding" and were required to do this at least once every 3-5 minutes. It has become a natural habit.

How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?

Confidence.

What types of materials do you typically use during a tutoring session?

我宁愿让自己熟悉板牙ials the student has been given to learn. Depending on the subject and what is given, I may seek additional materials. As for myself, I bring a pen and notebook each time not only to work out problems as necessary, but to take notes regarding what is worked on and what progress is made each session.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

I glean information from every source I can, including the person, parent/guardian if relevant, scores, and academic performance based on the initial evaluation with me, and any other means of valuable information presented.

How do you adapt your tutoring to the student's needs?

My tutoring is dependent on the needs of the person I am serving. Some simply need drill work such as flashcards or practice on targeted concepts in order to prepare for a test or increasing rigor in a class. Others need more concept development in order to understand what is going on, and perhaps practice stringing multiple steps or concepts together in order to make sense of a certain problem or subject. And others still look simply for time spent on a subject in order to strengthen their memory and fluency. What I do, therefore, is determined by the needs and goals of the person I am there to help.