Ken: Riverdale tutor

Certified Tutor

Though most of my experience has been in teaching college courses, I have tutored students, both privately and through formal organizations, ranging in ages from 12 to older adulthood.

Though I have done some math tutoring for younger students, my favorite subject both to teach and to tutor is writing in all its forms, from the shorter paragraphs required in elementary school language courses, through essays, to longer term papers, and even, once, when I was employed by the University of Oklahoma athletic department as a writing tutor for their players, I helped proofread and edit a 300-page thesis for a premed student! I have also tutored several people in novel- and poetry writing, as well as essays in many subjects, from chemistry to film to theater.

I enjoy teaching others how to write, primarily because writing is, at its core, a living art. You can't just plug numbers or letters into a formula, and expect to come up with a good piece of writing. Part of it does come by instinct. But I believe those instincts are inside everyone. They can be honed and sharpened to the point that everyone involved -- that is, the tutor and the student both will know themselves a bit better by the end of the journey, and be able to communicate that in a clear and captivating way to others.

But to do that, one must meet each student where they are. The teacher must engage the student where they are on the level of their own passions, interests, and dreams in order to be able to translate the content material into the student's own language, so to speak. If such a personal connection isn't made, and made quickly, then we won't be able to connect the content with something that really matters to the student, and they will forget it as soon as the need of the moment passes. If I can connect with a student in this way, then the knowledge both given and gained from the experience becomes something more than just a procedure, a collection of facts, or an instruction sheet on how to get through the present crisis. It becomes a living thing; something to be built on, applied, used, and reused to create new knowledge in novel and creative ways, throughout the rest of the student's lifetime.

Because this connection, and the process which arises from it, is so important to me, I teach, and tutor best in one-on-one setting. Most of my teaching experience has been in group settings (both in traditional classrooms and online). So while I can teach groups, I believe my greatest success has been in one on one settings.

I received my bachelor's degree in English with a writing concentration in 1999 from East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, where I currently reside, and a master's degree In Professional Writing from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma in 2006. I'm currently pursuing a doctorate (PhD) in Education with a dual emphasis on curriculum design and creativity in education.

Outside of teaching, and building friendships, I enjoy writing (I'm currently working on my first novel), reading (fantasy, sci-fi, historical novels, biographies and some mysteries), music (a little of nearly everything, but mostly standards, symphonic, Cetic, jazz and blues), and movies (old musicals, sci-fi, fantasy, romances, and bio-pics).