Experience Summary
After graduating cum laude from Miami University in 2003, I began teaching 8th grade at the same small junior/senior high school where I had previously student taught. I worked on an interdisciplinary team, which gave me exposure to all content areas. I began my Masters degree that same year. In my third year of work there, an operating levy failed, leaving me jobless, but through a classmate in my MAT program, I found a new position in an excellent district--larger and more innovative than my previous school. There, I taught 84-minute, double-blocked Language Arts classes: honors seventh grade and inclusion eighth grade. Over the last five years, I have tutored students who were homebound for a multitude of reasons in reading and writing skills.
Teaching Style
I am a dynamic teacher who can adapt to whatever it seems the student most immediately needs. While I prefer a more laid-back, go-with-the-flow approach to tutoring, I am also able to be more structured when a child appears to require a more regimented schedule. I am a passionate reader with the ability to find a just-right book for even the most reluctant reader, and I love helping students with writing, no matter how much of a struggle it may be for him or her. While I enjoyed classroom teaching immensely, I also realized how often individual students are overlooked for the needs of the whole group, and as a tutor, I am excited to be able to help each child individually. My strengths lie in interpersonal and kinesthetic areas, and I use those skills to relate well to adolescents and their parents.