My teaching philosophy is best expressed by Confucius: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

I enjoy getting to know my students during the first session - their goals, interests, hobbies, how they learn, and how they study. It's a vibrant first conversation before we dive into more sessions together.

I believe in working together and building up the students by giving them the tools they need to complete the task at hand. I encourage their confidence so that they can be successful as an independent learner.

I enjoy getting to know students on a personal level - what do they like to do for fun, what is important to them, and what are their motivations and goals. That way I can understand how to keep them focused and motivated during the lesson as well as realize when they might need a minute to take a mental break.

I am patient with the student. I try to come up with multiple ways to learn the skill and figure out which way works best for the student and how he or she learns. I also incorporate examples in real life to apply the concept.

I break down the passage into bite-sized pieces, showing them how to summarize what they are reading as they go. In this way, they can quickly find the section that pertains to the question they are asked. If needed, we can work backwards to understand how the passage is constructed or identify gaps in vocabulary.

I always start out giving feedback with the positive things the student has done before giving constructive feedback on how he or she can do better. I like to start the lesson with asking the student: 1) do you have any question(s) from our previous session? 2) What is your goal for this session? This creates a routine and the expectations for the lesson that day.

I find out the student's hobby or interest (sports, music, arts) and relate the subject to it. I learn about their long-term goals (college, job, career) and try to make the subject relevant to the individual student.

Throughout the lesson, I pause and do a check for understanding. This can be in the form of me asking a question/problem and the student explaining or showing me the answer. It can be starting with a simple concept and building on it by asking them to create a question/problem.

I provide positive feedback on how they are doing throughout the session. I encourage and support by reinforcing my belief in their ability to be successful. I ask them to tell me at least one thing they did well from the lesson that day.

I talk to the student, but I also like to involve the family or support system of the student (parents, grandparents). It takes a village, and since I am new to the student, I definitely like to collaborate with the family to find out how best I can support their child.

I use the first session to learn more about the student (hobbies, interests, favorite subject, etc.) and try to determine how they learn best before diving in. As we go through each session, I also ask the student for feedback about how the sessions are so I can adapt it to their needs. What would they like to see more/less of?

It varies based on the student and the subject we are working on. Sometimes we use textbooks/workbooks from school or problems/questions I create. I prefer that the tutoring sessions are student-directed, and I organize the session based on their questions.