Ian O.

Experience Summary

I began teaching at eighteen. I’d just graduated high school and wasn’t ready for college, so I worked as a personal trainer at a gym within jogging distance of my house. I worked with clients one-on-one helping structure their workouts to their needs, and while I may be stretching it to equate teaching with providing pointers on proper form or advising on ways to augment a stagnant routine, but I think that gap year spent in the gym was when my proclivity for teaching first became incipient. Since then I’ve taught countless subjects. I’ve worked with second graders and sophomores in college. The classroom may have changed since I was eighteen but that aim to educate another remains. I am currently an MFA in Creative Writing candidate at Rosemont College. The program has two primary focuses for its graduate students. One is for students to enhance their craft and make the most of their potential. The other is to prepare students to one day be a teacher themselves. Every course I’ve taken has required me to run my own class and dictate the discussion before my peers. One course in particular, Workshopping the Workshop, dealt exclusively with the methods of teaching a creative writing class. Whether it was co-teaching a three hour course, or going it alone, the onus was on preparing a student to control the classroom and be comfortable in doing so. It was a highly intensive course and was probably a shock to any student who hadn’t stood at the head of a room before. Luckily for me I’d had previous experience mentoring fellow writers. Before undertaking my MFA I would audit the Advanced Creative Writing class at Montgomery County Community College because it is easier to write if you have an audience. After two semesters of sitting in her class and critiquing the students work, Professor Nestler, who taught the course, asked if I’d like to lead a breakout group and work with the poets on my own. In a class of twenty there were usually four or five poets, and because it was a cross-genre course, most free-writing assignments and technical time that dealt with craft predominantly centered on prose. So for two semesters I led the poets in craft oriented exercises. I handed out packets of poems which exemplified various aspects of syntax for us to discuss. I assigned optional writing prompts for the group so we could provide the writer feedback and constructive criticism. I had them bring in works of poets they were drawn to and had them lead the group in what that writer’s strengths were. Those two semesters were highly insightful for me. I learned more about the craft of poetry leading those groups than I ever had previously. It was working with those students and running the show that drove me to apply for graduate school. Working with the poets at Montgomery County Community College was amazing but it wasn’t the first time I’d ever been front and center before a group of students. Since graduating from Ursinus I’ve substitute taught for the Philadelphia School District. I’ve worked with every grade from kindergarten up at schools all over the city. My greatest experience was in the spring of 2010 in which I worked at Roxborough High School for an entire semester covering for a teacher out on maternity leave. I taught English and Theatre to 10th and 12th graders. After the initial few weeks I was allowed to structure the syllabus and class plans for the remainder of the year. It was an eye-opening experience learning to rein in thirty teenagers and keep them engaged. I learned the value of getting creative with assignments. I learned the value of composure. I learned that students might be reluctant to read Old Man and the Sea because the book looks old. I learned a lot. But that’s the appeal of teaching, it’s a great way to learn.

All Subjects I Tutor

• American History
• Creative Writing
• English

• Grammar
• GRE
• Literature

• Poetry
• SAT - Verbal
• Social Studies

• World History
• Writing
• Writing Skills