What is your teaching philosophy?

Teaching should always be goal-oriented and student-focused. It's the responsibility of the teacher to find a style and pace that is perfect for each student.

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

The first step is always to establish goals and develop a concrete plan to meet those goals. We will spend the first part of that first session making sure I know exactly what you need and what you want to get out of tutoring. Then, with a plan in place, we can start working to gain a thorough understanding of your strengths and weaknesses.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

As a teacher, it is important that I always scaffold my own thinking in a way that teaches my students not only the content but how to think about the content. Each student should, as well as learning content, be learning how to study, how to learn, and how to develop independently. Part of the process should be teaching them the skills that they need to succeed on their own without the need of a tutor for support.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

It's hard to stay motivated if you can't see progress. It is important that I develop small goals for the student, so that their hard work pays off in visible ways and they can be assured that they are on their way to their end goal. Some student have a hard time with their goals, or they are working for their parents' goals and not their own. For those students, I find it helps to reach beyond the academic goals their parents have set for them, to discuss their own goals, and then help them see how these academic ones are a milestone to great things.

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

Reading doesn't come as naturally to some people as to others. For those who struggle, it's necessary to learn how to read more purposefully. Teaching students how to take notes on reading, how to annotate important parts of that reading, and read in small chunks before re-framing it for themselves can help them make more sense of the text. It's always important to teach students that reading is just like any other skill, and it has to be done actively and with purpose. Teaching a student those skills will help their comprehension as well as develop their ability to read material throughout their academic career that they find difficult.

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

我总是先找到核心的年代tudent needs to meet their goals and developing a rapport with the student. I need to learn how the student learns so that my teaching can reflect that. One of the things that makes tutoring such a powerful academic tool is how personalized it can be. My job when I start with a new student is to learn how I should personalize my teaching to fit that student.