Experience Summary
Teaching middle school and high school science from 1983 to 2004, including every science subject listed in the TutorSelect list. I have worked as an educational consultant for national science laboratories, helping them train their scientists to work better in the school classrooms where they volunteer. I have worked for museums and for outdoor education programs, but have found the most satisfaction as a classroom teacher with all kinds of students. I have worked teaching teachers, but they were very difficult students.
Teaching Style
Multiple ways of presenting material; musically, visually, building models, finding answers by testing a hypothesis; experimenting, measuring, observing, seeing, touching.
My Hobbies
Computer science - I'm trying to learn Linux for Ubuntu. I fish everywhere I can, and then EAT them, I am an avid environmentalist - as long as that definition includes people. I hunt using a muzzleloader and raise my own heirloom vegetables. I specialize in knowing the taxonomy of native wildflowers and how they can be used in holistic medicines. I ride horses as often as I can,(my last one died at age 39.) I train australian shepherds, a breed of herding dogs which I find extremely intelligent and loyal. I guess you can say I am eclectic in my interests, in my knowledge base and in my teaching style.
Other Comments
I have let my teaching certification lapse and haven't renewed it. I am looking for tutoring students because it gives me a greater range of subjects and more autonomy.
| Algebra |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| Skilled at explaining exponents, graphing, number line, square roots. |
| Algebra I |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| Skilled at explaining exponents, graphing, number line, square roots. |
| Anatomy |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| Having taught High School Anatomy and Physiology - even designed the course, I am well equipped to tutor this subject. Besides, I OWN one! |
| Biology |
Proficiency: Expert
|
| This a great subject for me. I taught high school biology for 10 years, not including life science for another 10. I am great at helping students understand systems - in all environments and how to apply that knowledge in taking tests about them. |
| Chemistry |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| My favorite high school teacher was my chemistry teacher and she is still my best friend. Chemistry comes easily to me, but I don't get impatient or irritated if it doesn't come that way to others. From the basic building blocks of matter to the Lewis dot structures to fun ways to memorize the elements in the periodic table, I can make chemistry palatable. |
| Composition |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| I am an excellent writing composition tutor. I write well, have an enormous vocabulary and know how to find specifics in the MLA. |
| Creative Writing |
Proficiency: Expert
|
| I am a published creative writer and would really enjoy helping others to reach that goal. |
| Earth Science |
 This is one of my top subjects!
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| I LOVE Earth Science. I am an amateur mineral collector, a real discoverer of dinosaur fossils, a gemstone bead wirer, and have taught earth science to my friends, sisters and anyone going with me on an expedition. Rock cycle, rock identification is gneiss. Not just schist to me! I have a great sense of humor, too. |
| Genetics |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| Punnett squares, dominant, recessive, genotype, phenotype, crossing over, nucleotides - the words alone could get you. I enjoy the puzzles you can solve with knowledge of genetics, and I have excellent tools to help students learn about the dazzle of genes. |
| Geometry |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| Using many concrete materials, I can explain area, volume, triangles, degrees, congruencies, complimentary angles, acute, obtuse and right angles, postulates and theorems. |
| Grammar |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| My grammar has been set in my brain by my mother, and that map is still alive and growing. Perceived social status is often affected by a person's grammar. Knowledge regarding the best use of grammatical forms is often the point at which top notch jobs in the fields of journalism or reporting are gained or lost. |
| Life Science |
This is one of my top subjects!
Proficiency: Expert
|
| Life science or science(s).... Flowers and bees, trees and rain showers. Everything in cyclic fashion. What does 'alive' mean? So much to say here and so much to hear there that I can't begin to tell you I can't wait to begin teaching about life sciences! |
| Marine Biology |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| Marine biology has nothing to do with the armed forces! But there are many armed forces in the marine environment. I am a certified scuba diver and have met some of the deep marines personally. I wish I had a beachfront classroom for this subject, but I don't, so I use as many real materials as possible to bring home the ocean. |
| Math |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| Teaching math takes a lot more than just understanding it! I have many helpful ways for students to really LEARN division, multiplication, fractions, percents, orders of operation and exponents, number lines, graphing and measuring accurately. |
| Poetry |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| My first poem was published when I was 16 years old. I write differently now-as much for fun as for seriousness. I am able to give good ideas to beginning poets, or help more mature writers learn structure and pattern.
Part of poetry is learning to read your work aloud, using your voice as the music for the poem. |
| Pre-Algebra |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| How many students start to have real mathematics trouble here? The reason is poor teaching! Most middle and high school math teachers are good at MATH, not at TEACHING it. I am excellent at explaining inequalities, solving for one variable, functions and graphing, multiplying, adding, subtracting and dividing exponents. |
| Psychology |
Proficiency: Experienced
|
| My background in psychology is extensive. I have a minor in the subject and have taken many more hours in order to be certified as a teacher. I like teaching psychology and find it pfascinating. |
| Science |
This is one of my top subjects!
Proficiency: Expert
|
| Science is the best thing I have ever experienced or taught. I have been the Science Olympiad Director for my state and have judged so many science fairs that I get scared of three fold backboards. I have a Pangaea-sized science background, and I really like to share it. |