Muskan S.

I believe in teaching with a positive attitude while keeping an open mind. Each student learns at their own pace and has their methods of learning and understanding concepts. With a subject such as English, understanding the subject is incredibly open as one's interpretation is typically the starting point of forming a basis of understanding. With history, on the other hand, while leading up to the IBDP, students are taught to memorize dates and events. In the IB Diploma, History and events are understood with a critical thinking approach. I believe that a learning space for a student should be safe, open-minded, and positive to facilitate the potential.

In the first session with a student, a clear starting point is to understand some background information such as; what is being taught in the class at the moment and clear expectations of what is to be achieved through the session and future sessions. From there, the session would move to understand what the student believes they are struggling with within the subject/topic. Based on the information provided, we would start by creating a clear plan and beginning to apply it in the first session.

To help a student become an independent learner, I would make it a clear goal for the student to either: have a passion for the subject or teach them tools and support to help them in the future regarding the subject being taught. A student becomes an independent learner through gaining confidence in the subject in question; therefore, I would put my efforts into making the student more confident in the subject being taught.

I believe that a student can remain motivated, though I do understand that sometimes, it is possible for a student not to feel motivated as well. Through the clear goals and expectations of the tutoring sessions, I believe that by achieving these goals, a student would gain more motivation and thus more interest in the subject.

I understand that every student has their way of learning new material; or adding material to a previously taught concept. I believe understanding where the student is having difficulty understanding a skill or concept is crucial to helping them. From that point, I would explain the idea differently and provide different examples and methods to practice the concept.

With subjects such as; English, History, and Spanish, reading is vital in understanding the subject. If a student struggles with this, I would explain methods to understand the critical points of the question. Therefore, the student would better understand what the question is asking and what to provide to answer the question.

I believe that a student gets engaged with a subject if the teacher also shows excitement and knowledge for teaching the subject. Without the teacher's interest in the subject, a student would not be willing to be engaged with the subject. I believe that for a subject such as history, with understanding facts and concepts, storytelling or getting the student to explain their knowledge of the subject would be beneficial in keeping a student engaged.

Firstly, closer to the end of the session, I would ask some questions based on the topics covered in the session. Also, I would get the student to reflect on what was taught in the sessions. From the reflecting and one-on-one questions, if there are any additional questions, they will be addressed during the end of the session or at the start of the next session.

To help a student's confidence grow in a subject, the person teaching the subject should also be knowledgeable and confident. Additionally, through realistic expectations during the sessions, the achievements made in the session would also help a student's confidence grow in the subject.

A primary method to evaluate a student's need is first to ask them what they believe they are struggling with or would want to improve upon based on what is being taught to them in their class. After that process, after a few sessions, by using past paper questions from what was understood through our sessions, would I be able to understand better what a student would need.

The changes or the adaptation of my tutoring style are based on the student's needs and the areas of struggles I as a teacher see during the sessions. Based on that, the tutoring sessions can vary based on each student's need, while it also possible that I would use different methods to teach other students.

I enjoy using the different materials available to me through the use of technology. Some teaching methods are; Britannica, crash course videos, various dictionaries, and online resources for texts. An approach to study before the session can be through Quizlet.