My teaching philosophy is focused on implementing the combination of Behaviorism and Social Learning Theory. Using these two teaching philosophies will help allow students to receive optimal opportunities to learn through classical and operant conditioning, reinforcement, and through observation and sensorial experiences. My tutoring sessions will consist of the combination of direct instruction and learning through hands-on exploration. I believe in the use of teacher modeling and demonstrations in order for students to gain a better understanding of the content. Also, the main component of my teaching philosophy is the idea of assisting students while they construct their own understanding and learning. Guiding students to allow them to construct their own learning will allow them to gain a deeper understanding of the content, as well as have an easier time comprehending the content due to relating and connecting the information to their prior knowledge. While using my teaching philosophy as the foundation for my tutoring sessions, I believe in creating individualized instruction plans that focus on the goals that student has, what the student needs to meet the goals, and the learning style of the student. Most of my lessons involve using manipulatives and relating the content to the real world in order to help the students make connections. Overall, I believe that any student has the ability to learn, but sometimes all that is needed is assistance and guidance in order for the student to reach their optimal potential.

Just like I stated in my teaching philosophy, any student has the ability to learn, but sometimes all it takes is assistance and guidance in order for the student to reach their optimal potential. With this in mind, I believe that teaching students through the combination of direct instruction and hands-on exploration, students will be capable to construct their own learning. During my tutoring sessions, I like to focus on building off of the student’s knowledge.

Motivation is a key component in student learning. I believe that the best learning occurs when the student is fully engaged and motivated. In order to ensure that the student is fully motivated and engaged, I believe in giving some of the autonomy to the student. This means that the student will be capable to take some control of their learning by making choices and setting their own goals. Giving students autonomy will allow the student to recognize that they are a vital component in their own learning and to learn to take pride in their learning. Along with allowing student autonomy, I believe in increasing student motivation through the use of goals, rewards, and positive reinforcement.

When it comes to students that struggle with reading comprehension, I believe that there is always an underlying reason for the difficulty that a student is having. For example, students who struggle with reading comprehension usually have a specific problem with one of the other building blocks of reading instruction, such as phonics, vocabulary, fluency, or phonological awareness.

The biggest way I help get a student to be engaged and excited about a subject that they are struggling in is through the use of bringing the student’s interests into their learning. For example, in the beginning of my tutoring sessions I will take the time to get to know my students and their interests, such as things that they like and enjoy doing. Once I have learned about my student’s interests, I will plan on incorporating different aspects of thing that they like into my lessons to help engage and motivate the student. Also, by incorporating things that the student enjoys into the lessons, the student will feel important and recognize that learning can be fun. Along with brining the student’s interest into their learning, I plan on using positive reinforcement throughout my tutoring sessions and focus on sharing my student’s strengths with them in order to feel excited about their learning.