Experience Summary
I have worked with children, teens and adults in a variety of capacities over the course of many years providing many personal care and personalized tutoring services. I have an interest in languages and lived abroad as a child and young adult, an experience that continues to inform my view of the interesting and diverse perspectives I have encountered among those in my circle. It has contributed to a passion for advocacy and a desire to build community that is meaningful, sustainable and equitable. My passion for research and for solving problems of all kinds has enabled me to work in more settings and in more varied capacities than might otherwise be the case and I believe that learning, so far from being a task that exists in isolation, is actually the process of challenging and changing the self, hopefully for the better.
Teaching Style
I am a warm, compassionate and supportive tutor who has somewhat open-ended expectations for my clients. This habit has enabled me to build relationships with clients that support successful interaction across a fairly long arc of time. I have found the process of tutoring to be enjoyable, have found the work of educating to be a significant means of contributing something to the world that is of value, and generally invite my students to collaborate with me and take ownership of the process and of the results.
My Hobbies
I write poetry, am part of several learning communities, and enjoy planning events for large groups. In addition, I enjoy almost every kind of opportunity to inquire into various subjects and to interact with people of all kinds.
| ADD/ADHD |
Proficiency: I know the basics
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| I have worked with elementary, middle and high school special needs students who struggle with a variety of labels, including ADD/ADHD. That said, consulting for comprehensive study skills and organization for a student with this challenge is not my top skill. |
| Basic Learning Skills |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| The ability to think critically, to think creatively, to collaborate and to communicate well are skills that foster engagement in the learning process and I enjoy teaching these skills to students in the course of interacting around the subjects they study as well as around the challenges that they encounter. Hobbies and extracurricular activities, in my experience, can serve as wonderful platforms upon which to build these skills because the student is already interested, passionate, knowledgeable and committed. |
| Dyslexia |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| My experience working with students who struggle with Dyslexia is primarily in the context of supporting young, emergent readers and middle school students with this challenge. |
| Elementary |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| I have educated a number of preschool, special needs and elementary or middle school students at home while they awaited admission to a specific program or a better placement with respect to available local institutions. |
| Elementary Grammar |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| Grammar is best taught through writing, reading and speaking. In other words, as the student expresses ideas and interacts with material that is interesting, engaging and relevant, he or she will pass through all of the stages of production and editing without the need for a heavy-handed emphasis on mastering all of the rules. Such an emphasis promotes anxiety for some students that, ironically, inhibits the desire to write anything at all! |
| Elementary Math |
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| I love teaching basic math to young learners and have a passion for finding patterns in numbers of all kinds and for promoting mastery of this skill in my students. The ability to relate numbers to one another in all sorts of interesting ways based on skill development and on considering the "how" of solutions arrived at helps students to progress in meaningful ways and can be promoted with a variety of materials and activities. |
| Elementary Phonics |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| Having studied several languages, I have an appreciation for how difficult English can be to some learners. The history of the language is replete with modifications of all kinds and some of these were mere affectations introduced for no reason other than preference or fancy! Nevertheless, phonics is an excellent tool that supports moving emergent readers towards mastery and fluency in reading and speech and a comprehensive course in phonics is of benefit to most young students. |
| Elementary Reading |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| We live in a world where children can not only read great books, but can produce them! The excitement of being invested in the process of reading is enhanced when the student has interesting ways to extend and expand the material. Even more possibilities open up when the student takes ownership of production and creates a story using the spoken and written word and augments the narrative with pictures, posters and photos. Whether the result is an audio file, a few pages in a notebook, a collage or an actual book, the student benefits enormously from this level of ownership in the process. |
| Elementary Vocabulary |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| Vocabulary for young readers is best acquired organically through reading, writing, speaking, listening, and investigating topics of interest. I support young learners by modeling a passion for the power of words and a respect for the student's ability to use his or her agency in self-expression. I also encourage the development of skills such as listening, reflecting, analyzing and extending the expressions of others. Tutoring sessions include both the modeling and explicit teaching of these skills. |
| English |
 This is one of my top subjects!
Proficiency: Expert
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| I have tutored students of English as a second language, special needs and emergent readers who need support in the study of English, and college students in search of support for certain kinds of academic vocabulary and formatting for larger assignments. |
| English ESOL |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| I have worked with adult, adolescent, elementary and preschool aged clients whose first language was not English and currently serveas a volunteer ESL facilitator for a local nonprofit. |
| French |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| I can read, write and speak French fairly well and actually spent my early childhood in a French speaking country (Madagascar) |
| Poetry |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| I enjoy the analysis of poetry and literature have assisted a number of students with this type of assignment. I also enjoy writing poetry and regularly practice that craft. |
| Reading |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| I have extensive practical experience working with very young and special needs students in developing the skills that allow them to become fluent, confident and engaged readers. |
| Reading Comprehension |
Proficiency: I know the basics
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| Supporting the process of developing a good base of skills from which to draw inferences and make predictions with respect to the actions of characters and plot points in a storyline requires explicit and systematic exposure to exercises that both spark curiosity and cause the student to engage with the material by extending meaning beyond what is actually stated in the text. This process is different with each student and requires both creativity and systematicity in order to be successful. |
| Spanish |
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| I speak read and write Spanish fairly well and use the language regularly in my practice as a tutor. |
| Special Education |
Proficiency: Experienced
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| Special Education encompasses such a broad array of physical, social, emotional, developmental and intellectual challenges. Every student is so different with respect to their requirements in terms of support in order to succeed. I am practiced at individuating with respect to how I interact and differentiating with respect to how I plan for a wide array of clients. |
| Spelling |
Proficiency: Expert
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| What can I say? I read too much Dr. Seuss, which causes me to think in terms of word families and phonetic patterns. If you have me tutor your student in spelling, I'm going to teach comprehensive, explicit phonics. |
| TOEFL |
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| Preparing for this test can be quite a challenge and most of my experience has been as a peer tutor. |