What is your teaching philosophy?

I find getting your student out of their comfort zone paves the way for lasting knowledge and relationships. It's important for me to explore a lot of options with students, not settling for a strategy until their learning needs are completely identified.

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

Gauging a student's current skill level and personality is key to reaching their goals. Warming up and being sociable makes learning that much easier for everyone involved!

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

It's important to let students challenge themselves. Having them design a problem or two instills a ton of confidence, and it is a good opportunity for me to measure progress.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

Presenting students with work they've done in the past, and then comparing it to where they're at now is a great visual tool to show students their progress.

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

Asking a student how they think they'd best learn a difficult concept helps them and I better learn their learning style, be it auditory, visual, interactive, or anything in between.

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

Presenting students with various materials gets them warmed up with the work, while also clarifying what skill level they are at.

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

By focusing on vocab that a student may not be familiar with, and also connecting the material they are reading to what they've already read. It's amazing how much a student's reading comprehension can grow!

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

I would find a connection between a subject a student may not be enthusiastic about and something that is important to them. This allows the difficult subject to quickly become more unique and engaging.

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

It's key to review material in a variety of methods; reading, writing, and spoken exercises engage so many different skills, and this is a huge confidence boost for struggling students.

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

Asking students questions about a subject they may not be totally confident in is a great way to get them to connect with different topics. When they make these connections, a student's confidence skyrockets!

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Constantly asking students questions and engaging them in different exercises is a great way to pinpoint just what exactly needs to be strengthened, and what areas are already up to snuff.