What is your teaching philosophy?

I try to identify what strategy will work best with each individual. Some require hands-on, others need a personalized "real-world" approach, and others just need someone who has patience to work through the material thoroughly.

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

Begin with introducing myself, finding out some characteristics about the student, and what teaching styles have been successful for them in the past. If they're unsure, we'll work on identifying some of those techniques before diving into the material.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

By providing some study strategies that will work best for that individual. Work on finding personalized steps that will allow for personal growth and success.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

It is important to have goals; motivation can be boosted each time a goal is reached, whether long-term or short-term. As well as using encouragement.

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

Work on narrowing down where the difficulty is coming from. Then work backwards to find out how to issue began, and from there building the foundation back up. From there, practice questions until the student feels more confident.

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

It all comes from targeting the large issues and working down to the small ones. Go over words, meanings, phrases, and common similarities. Then, just be encouraging until growth is made.

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

Once I have had a chance to see what teaching styles fit best for the student, I can move forward on how to be successful. If it's hands-on, then taking each subject and projecting it in a manner than can be interpreted in a way that allows hands-on learning to flourish.

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

Try to relate that subject to one they are interested in or a hobby they have. By showing how that subject can be fun and exciting to learn. Almost everything can be related; we just have to find out the best way to get that student excited.

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

Some test questions and practice problems, related to a "real-world" topic, among others, depending on the teaching strategy used for each individual student.

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

Use words of encouragement, set attainable goals, always express a positive attitude to all of your students, and create opportunities for students to succeed by building on their strengths.

How do you evaluate a student's needs?

Discuss with the student where they struggle in the classroom - on assignments, exams, etc. Go over different strategies and see what works better and appears to be higher in confidence. From there, I just like to talk with each student and find out their thoughts on what works and go over the thoughts I have that could be beneficial.

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

Adapting of tutoring varies from student to student. I change that where necessary on using a different teaching strategy; turning it into a "real-world" problem, relating it to another area where strengths are already relevant, and taking the problem down to simpler terms and working through it through multiple steps.

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

Paper, pencils, calculators, notes I have gathered previously (either my personal notes or from a text), and colored pens.