What is your teaching philosophy?

I want to help students look at a question as a whole, and then break it down and understand its parts.

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

I would observe their work on a current homework assignment so I could get an idea of where they are relative to where they need to be

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I encourage independence by doing everything I can to point students in the right direction of the answer without giving it to them, by really teaching them how to look at problems instead of memorizing how to solve them.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Encouragement is key in motivation. I like to instill a sense of pride into my students that exists even past our sessions, so every time they get a problem right they feel that pride from within.

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

I tend to break problems down as much as possible so students understand all the tiny moving pieces at play. Understanding what a problem is asking, both as a whole and broken up, is key to understanding concepts.

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

Comprehension comes from connecting all the dots that are being thrown at you in a paragraph. I have my students go through whatever they're reading and make those connections, both within individual sentences and in the paragraph as a whole, to piece together an understanding of what is being said.