What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is based on relationships. There must be trust between teacher and student for learning to occur. I like to get to know my students, because as I am explaining difficult concepts it is best to put them in terms that the individual student understands.

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

In a first session I will look over the work that a student is currently assigned. I will assess their abilities based on where they are while asking questions to see if there is scaffolded information they are missing. Most importantly, I spend an extra fifteen minutes on my dime to get to know my students.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

A student can become an independent learner by successfully completing the different levels of instruction. First the student must listen to the teacher. Next the teacher should model the skill and the student shall follow. The teacher will guide the student as they complete a problem. Finally the student should be able to solve the problems independently.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I help students stay motivated by increasing their confidence. When a student feels that they know the material they take more risks and increase their knowledge, which makes them more comfortable with the subject areas.

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

When a student has difficulty with a skill, the best way to reach him or her is to break the material down to smaller chunks. Once a student has mastered all of the component skills they can put it back together.

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

I help students struggling with reading comprehension by having students break down the reading into chunks for closer reading. We take it a paragraph at a time, evaluating meaning in each sentence one at a time to process it bit by bit. Then we put all of our notes together at the end to evaluate the entirety of the reading.

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

I create rapport with all my students from the moment I meet them. When students get to know me, they feel more comfortable, which allows them to open up and communicate with me about their struggles. The old adage is true: "They don't care what you know, until they know that you care."