My teaching philosophy is that ALL students are able to learn what they want to learn. If you put your mind to it and think positive you can succeed and accomplish anything. Don't rush, take your time, and it will come.

In a typical first session with a student, I would get to know the student, as well as the parent. I would ask a few personal questions just to know their thoughts and aspirations. Then I would ask them what they need to learn. It's basically a listening session so that I can know where and how to assist the student.

I feel that I can help the student become an independent learner by asking them questions and waiting patiently for their response. I would let them know that it's o.k. to have a bit of silence to think. There's no rush for a quick answer. By allowing them to think for themselves, it allows them to learn to work independently.

I would help a student stay motivated by starting off our session by asking them how their day is going. I would also ask them if anything interesting is happening in their lives. Then we would move onto the lesson, and I would try to make the lesson unusual and fun. Getting to know the student allows me a better perspective on what motivates the learner.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, I would slow down, back up, and go over the exact portion in which they are having difficulty. If that didn't help, I would ask them questions about which part is confusing and then assess another method to assist them in learning.

Students that are struggling with reading comprehension can be helped by simply reading aloud slowly. Sometimes it takes reading things more than one time. I previously struggled with reading comprehension and didn't like reading things over and over, but I had to do it in order to understand the material. Everyone learns differently and I had to adjust my life to my learning. Eventually, the student will begin to understand. Sometimes the student simply needs to clear their minds and get in a quiet place.

Strategies that work when I work with students is simply getting to know what type of learner they are. Everyone learns differently, so if I can take a few moments to learn their style of learning it makes the student and myself happy. I enjoy adapting my teaching style to their learning style, and the different types of learning styles are kinesthetic (body), music (instrumental), people (groups), nature (outside), etc.

I would help a student get engaged with a subject they are struggling in by breaking down the lesson and making it understandable so they don't struggle so much. Obviously, they don't understand the way their normal teacher is teaching the lesson so my goal and hopes are to find out how the teacher has been explaining the lesson and I would try to elaborate or explain it differently.

The techniques I would use to make sure the student understands the material is to go over the material, then have the student work several problems out with me, and then have them do it by themselves.

I build a student's confidence in a subject by explaining the reasoning behind learning that subject and how it can relate to their everyday life, as well as the future. Some students feel certain subjects are unnecessary and they may not use it in the future. We use a lot of the core subjects as we get older. I would also provide them with compliments and praise so they know they are doing well.

I evaluate a student's needs by asking questions and listening. Listening effectively to see exactly what they need and where and why they are struggling in a particular subject helps a lot.

I adapt my tutoring to the student's needs by simply asking questions and using teaching methods to help them learn efficiently.

The materials I use during a typical tutoring session are the student's school lesson they are working on in class, as well as other printable lessons that would assist in explaining the particular subject.