My teaching philosophy is to bring to the surface the intrinsic motivation of every student by inspiring them to see all of the wonderful possibilities that come along with earning a solid education. I believe that a teacher should be a motivator, cheerleader, guidance counselor, and friendly spirit in order to educate the person as a whole, and not just to evoke mental growth. I believe that teaching is my destiny, not my job. As such, I aim to impart knowledge, passion, and excitement into every class, classroom, and student. I believe that a great educator should never stop learning, teaching, exploring, or questioning. As such, after earning my doctoral degree, I have begun learning to speak Italian, play the piano, and even learned to cook! I believe that if I am to "talk the talk," then I must continue to "walk the walk" side-by-side with my students. That is how and why I know that I am a strong educator, leader, and motivator for students.

I would take a few moments to set some short-term and long-range goals with the student so that we both know what we are working toward.

I believe that every student, given a strong foundation, can become an independent learner. My role is to help the student to build that strong foundation, so that they may stand independently and confidently.

I would help the student make a connection between the material they are studying and connect it to what they want to become later in life. I would show them how learning the material now will prepare them and should motivate them to absorb the knowledge in order to put it to use in the future.

If a student has difficulty, I would tell them to take a deep breath and break down the skill to its beginning level. I would tell the student to hang in there and we will work it out together!

I try to assess each student to determine where their deficiencies are in reading comprehension. Then, I help the student to increase their context clues skills so that they can determine the meaning of any unfamiliar word to increase their understanding of the reading selection.

I have found that goal-setting with a student is quite a successful method to begin with when meeting a new student. I find that when we outline what our end goals are, we work harder and more diligently toward reaching the goals than if we had not set any.

I would explain to the student how the content we are working with applies to their long-range goals. I would show them how they can apply the skills they are learning in order to become the best they can be!

I would use a progress monitoring component to determine the level of understanding that a student has for the material being taught. This way, we both know how much progress has been made and what needs to be focused upon more closely moving forward.

I love to celebrate successes! I think that confidence comes from the realization of a student's newly found skill set. I would celebrate and uplift a student when they demonstrate growth in a subject to build confidence!

I like to give a diagnostic assessment in order to evaluate a student's needs. I find that this helps to determine what the goals are for the student, and it helps to create an outline of the learning path we will embark on together.

I ask the student in an ongoing basis to give me feedback about the lessons, the material, and their own personal self-assessment of how their comprehension of the material is. I also use a lot of hands-on activities to keep the students engaged. I think that adapting tutoring lessons for a student is important, and most of the time, I find that interactive lessons are the best fit for students to keep them motivated and engaged.

The materials that I use change with the student, subject, and goals set forth by myself and the student. Depending upon the strengths and weaknesses of the student, I adjust the materials accordingly. I typically use a mixture of hands-on activities with traditional foundation building reading material that is focused upon nonfiction and content-based reading material.