Lauren

Certified Tutor

The first rule of writing is that writing is hard. What I love is showing students how to enjoy the process, whether it's for an academic essay or a creative piece. I have experience tutoring writing subjects from the 1st grade to college undergraduate levels. By practicing methods such as outlining and concept mapping, I help students see writing as a puzzle that can be solved to create a coherent picture rather than a jumble of ideas thrown at a blank page.

Writing, even academic, can be very personal which is why I believe positive reinforcement is the best method for tutoring this subject. So often, it's easy to forget to identify what students are doing right in their work and only focus on the critical. I make a point of showing students what is great about their work, so that they continue performing well in those areas, as well as identifying areas for improvement. For academic writing, I aide students with their understanding of reading comprehension, research skills, and essay structure as well as appropriate language use. For creative writing, I have a variety of writing exercises that help students stretch their imaginations as well as understand various elements such as tense, POV and story structure.

I hold a MA in Creative Writing and Publishing and MFA in Creative Writing both from Kingston University in London, England and received my BA from New York University. Several of my short stories have been published and I've also earned university awards for my work.

While at Kingston, I led seminars for the undergraduate courses Reading for Writers and Experiments in Form, which involved tutoring students in critical and creative writing and reading comprehension. I provided one-to-one support as needed as well as pastoral care for students. During this time, I also completed my Post-Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education.

I also privately tutored college English students online in essay writing, research skills and critical reading, and my students achieved whole letter grade improvements in their English classes since our sessions began.

While in the UK, I also I tutored for a local tutoring company, working with students aged 5-14 in both math and English while encouraging a positive learning environment for children who sought additional help or required an extra challenge.

At Explore Learning, I also taught the weekly 11+ Prep Exam Class, which prepares children aged 9-10 for the UK exam that determines where they attend secondary school. Subjects I tutored for this class included verbal and non-verbal reasoning, math, and English composition and comprehension.

I also ran special literacy and numeracy workshops which focused on various topics such as grammar, creative writing, percentages and telling the time. I provided written and oral feedback to parents regarding their child's progress and worked closely with managers to ensure each child received support appropriate to their needs. In September 2012, I was awarded Tutor of the Month.

I love helping students achieve their goals as they become assured, individual learners and hope I'll be able to help you, too!