What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe learning should be student centered with active participation. Motivation and engagement are the keys!

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

I would want to get to know them and their goals for tutoring. Then we could do a few activities in the subject matter as a way for me to get a feel of their skills, and to get started learning.

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

I would take a moment to reflect on the skill or concept and see if the student was missing any foundational skills or ideas necessary to understand this. If so, I'd teach those first so that the student is ready to learn this new concept/skill.

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

The most important thing is to ask questions as the student reads, this way the student is building their understanding as they go. There are also fun games like have a question cube that you can roll at the end of a page and get asked a random question.

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

Having the student teach back material is a good way to check for understanding -- it also improves retention when a student teacher material they recently learned!

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

Confidence is so important! By praising specific things a student does correctly, I can both give compliments and let students know which things they're doing right. Also, looking back at growth over time can be impactful for students and just empathizing with the challenge the material presents.