What is your teaching philosophy?

我f a student doesn't understand something, the problem is the teaching, not the student. Everyone learns differently, and teaching styles should be adjusted to meet the student's need. Anyone can learn anything with the right instruction.

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

My first priority is to get to know the student. I would want to spend at least 5-10 minutes casually talking. Second, I would want to get up to speed with the material they are trying to tackle, focusing on what problems the student is having. I would most likely try a few teaching techniques to see what the student would best respond to.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

While I tutor, my goal is not to help a student get a specific answer to a specific problem. My goal is to ensure the student has mastered the thought process behind solving the problem. When they have the thought process down, they will be able to learn independently.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

我would try to mix up their studying to keep the subject from getting too boring. In addition, I would use positive reinforcement to ensure the student continually believes in his or herself. The quickest way to lose motivation is to believe what you are undertaking is impossible.

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

Mix up my teaching technique. Students learn in lots of different ways, some of which are not traditionally taught in classrooms. Musical learning is a good example of this. Putting a concept that is difficult to memorize to song could be what a student needs to grasp a concept. They may need some sort of physical representation of the concept, or a visual representation. I couldn't say specifically which of these I would try because it would be different in every circumstance, but I would make sure that I was modeling my teaching around the student's needs.

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

Practice makes perfect, but in addition to practice there are strategies you can learn to help break down a passage into simpler terms. Blanking out unfamiliar vocabulary, or isolating the thesis of the passage are just two of these. I would partner practice with a breakdown of techniques such as these.

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

我t has really depended on the student, but one strategy that has almost always worked was prompting students to break down any difficult problem into a series of questions into a series of smaller problems. Students realize they are more than capable of finding solutions if they are not daunted by the size of their task.

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

Helping a student succeed alone almost always increases their enthusiasm. When this fails (or simply doesn't work enough), I try to help students see the beauty and usefulness behind the subject they are taking. A teacher's passion is usually infectious.

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

我would test them by giving them practice problems that are in their book or that I have made up. I would be sure to continuously quiz them throughout the session so that the concepts entered their long-term memory, not just their short-term memory, and I would start every session with a quiz on the material we worked on last time.

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

Positive reinforcement, but based on their legitimate achievements, not false praise. For instance I would help them through a problem, then have them complete a similar problem by themselves or with minimal prompting, then reinforce them by pointing out that they are clearly understanding the material and are more than able to perform on their own. Of course, this only works if they have actually grasped the material well, so it ultimately much more important for me to make sure that they do. That's the hard part. The easy part is pointing it out to them.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

First, by asking them, and listening to them. If they are vague, then asking more specific questions. Over time though, as I try different teaching methods and observe their areas of difficulty, I will be able to see which methods help them successful grasp concepts, which do not, and what types of concepts they tend to struggle with most.

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

Some students only need more practice, some need the material to be presented to them in a unique way, and some simply need more confidence. As soon as I have identified what needs to be done (by far the more difficult endeavor), it is pretty easy to target those needs. I would either help them look a material a new way (there are really infinite possibilities here, I could have them act it out, draw it out, compute it differently, create a pattern, etc.), or create fun different types of practice problems, reinforcing their confidence as we went along.

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

The student's textbook is almost always the most useful reference, but if I had an old textbook on the subject I would bring that as well. I would use a pen and scrap paper, most likely objects around the room as physical models, and the internet.