Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Master's Degree in Adult Learning; college preparation, English, English as a Second Language, basic math and more; St Petersburg, Florida 33716

Methodology

I assess a student's knowledge and abilities, ask what his/her goals are, and help him/her attain those goals. (Note that I didn't say "what their goals are" because I was referring to one "student". Likewise I did not write "them" referring again to the one student.) I use real life examples to make my teaching relevant and interesting. I make the learning as fun as possible. I have a Master's Degree in Adult Learning from the State University of New York. The name of the degree is important. The emphasis was on the student learning, not the teacher teaching. The best advice I ever had about student learning is this: Make a list of all that you are doing with your curriculum. Are you lecturing, using PowerPoint, using Overhead projections, reading from the text, etc. Next, look at WHAT THE STUDENT IS DOING! Rolling his/her eyes as you lecture? Watching a PowerPoint, writing in their copy of the PowerPoint so they don't have to copy it, and answering fill in the blank questions? (Students remember more if they write it down; it gets "written" in their brains.) Are they in small groups discussing a topic? Are they paired up to discuss the topic. Are they building a model of the concept.
Once at a conference several small groups were asked to make a mobile model of our agency. This hanging model had various parts, all balanced to hang correctly, representing the board of directors, funding sources, mentors, youth, staff, collaborating agencies, etc. We all proudly showed our mobiles and described how they represented the agency. Then we were told the real reason for the exercise. We were told to go back to our groups and discuss: Was there a group leader? How was she/he picked? Who had lots of ideas? Who was shy and held back? Did anyone try to draw out the shy person(s). Was anyone overbearing? How did the group react? And more. The exercise was about group dynamics. You can see how much more involved we were in this than if we had had a lecture about group dynamics.
Lastly, when I am helping someone learn, I always try to use the knowledge that he or she has already to build upon to learn new information. That way you're not boring the student with stuff s/he already knows, and everything is easier to learn if you can relate it to something you already know.