Catherine

Certified Tutor

I am a great tutor because I am an invested teacher and remain an enthusiastic learner; I have a passion for literature and history, an interest in helping others, and a range of experiences working with many different learners.

I graduated cum laude from Amherst College with a B.A. in English and History, I have my M.S. in Childhood Education and Special Education from Touro College, and I have an initial teaching certificate in New York.

In addition to my personal education, my experiences in the classroom and my continued work in education have shaped me as an educator. I taught second grade for two years in south Bronx, supporting my 32 students in mastering content in all subjects, including writing, math, and reading. After that, I transitioned to a network office where I now write middle school and high school English Language Arts curriculum and assessments. While I love my current work, I am not in the classroom much anymore. I miss working directly with students, and thus am very interested in tutoring. I have a particular interest in tutoring all elementary subjects, English Language Arts, and U.S. history.

While there is a time and a place for "lecture," I believe students do their best thinking when they are answering thoughtful questions both verbally and in writing. Because thinking is the crux of learning, I always strive to have student voices dominating during tutoring sessions.

Tutoring sessions are short, so I believe each one should be purposeful. Each session must have a goal that is clear to both me and the student. Because learning is as much about skills acquisition as it is about content knowledge--a student does not want to need a tutor forever!-- these goals should be transferable, and feedback throughout a session should drive toward helping a student achieve that goal.