Kate: Pleasanton tutor
Certified Tutor
Born, raised and educated in Chicago, I moved to New York two years ago to pursue my Master's in French Studies at NYU! While I miss my hometown, I'm reveling in this most recent stop on my long and exciting academic path.
When I was fourteen I was accepted into a high school enrichment program at the University of Chicago called the Collegiate Scholars Program. Along with roughly forty other students from Chicago Public High Schools, I spent the next three years studying under some of the greatest professors and graduate students in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The knowledge I gained from that experience helped me through my coursework and my college applications leading me on the track to continued academic success. The experience also taught me the importance of supplementary instruction and education. While many in the program came from schools with low college acceptance rates and families where college was not the norm, the program boasted a nearly 100% college acceptance rate. The support from the staff and the faculty gave us all the confidence and the tools needed to succeed.
After graduating from the University of Chicago in 2011 I decided to take the skills I had learned from my time in the Collegiate Scholars Program and my time in college and apply them to the position of College Countdown Instructor. I led a class of forty students in the college application process. We drafted personal statements, conducted informed college searches, and scouted out scholarship applications. It was one of the most rewarding and significant experiences in my life to date and has inspired me to want to work more closely with students to help give them the same skills I found so helpful during my academic career.
It would truly be my pleasure to combine my knowledge of the social sciences and humanities (as well as other subject areas in which I am proficient) with my teaching and instructing experience to help you on your path to academic success!
Connect with a tutor like Kate
Undergraduate Degree: University of Chicago - Bachelors, International Studies
Graduate Degree: New York University - Masters, French Studies/European History
travel, reading novels, play piano, soccer for 18 years, running, and cooking/baking.
- ACT English
- ACT Writing
- Advanced Placement Prep
- AP French Language and Culture
- College English
- College Essays
- Conversational French
- English
- English Grammar and Syntax
- Essay Editing
- European History
- French
- French 1
- French 2
- French 3
- French 4
- High School English
- Languages
- PSAT Critical Reading
- SAT Reading
- SAT Subject Test in French
- SAT Subject Test in French with Listening
- SAT Subject Tests Prep
- Social Studies
- Test Prep
- Writing
What is your teaching philosophy?
Every person comes to the table with their own interests and strengths. It is my goal to work with each student I meet to personalize the tutoring experience and develop a strategy that makes the material fun, interesting, and accessible to them. I think every person is capable of enjoying the process of learning!
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
In a first session I want to review my student's past work - this will give me an idea of where they are struggling and what kinds of learning styles they adapt to most easily. Then I like to have an open and easy conversation where the student can express their concerns and desires so I can make sure to adapt my lessons to their needs.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
The beauty of a one on one tutoring relationship is that I as the tutor can give the student individual attention. This means that I can help them understand how to mold and adapt each subject to their particular way of learning. This means giving them tips and tricks of how to approach material, no matter what subject, that makes it palatable to them. For writing, I might teach one student how to structure and organize an essay right from the ideas in their head into an outline on paper. For another student, I might suggest free-writing techniques that can help them articulate ideas, which can then be formed into a coherent paper. These are all methods that can be taken from our sessions and applied in their schooling.