Joseph

Certified Tutor

I graduated from high school at Fordham Preparatory School in 2010 and am currently taking a semester off before my final year at the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Brooklyn. I am working towards two bachelors degrees: a BFA in Creative Writing and a BA in Psychology.

My first tutoring experience was in my senior year of high school during which I tutored juniors who wanted extra help preparing for the AP Language and Composition exam, which I had taken the previous year. In college I have helped students struggling with general essay-writing and specific English courses—mainly writing-intensive courses but in some cases literature classes as well. I have tutored students, including some non-native speakers, who struggled with essay-writing and grammar, syntax, and usage issues.

My favorite subject to tutor was definitely AP Language and Composition mostly because of my interest in the subject itself. A lot of students know how to write a good essay but really struggle with this particular AP material because it requires you to take a step back and dissect the specific methods and structures at play in a given passage presented at random. Being able to put one's finger on the precise rhetorical methods that go into a strong piece of writing is really an enlightening experience.

As far as my personal tutoring style, I prefer to provide students with the guidance and practice necessary to understand each individual facet of a given subject until they feel completely comfortable with the material on their own. I find it very important to avoid overwhelming students with the big picture of something like an SAT or AP exam and prefer to break down the material into manageable pieces which, once mastered, will allow the student to excel at the subject as a whole.

Besides my academic pursuits, I enjoy going to shows for local bands in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and I participate in a bi-monthly poetry reading presented by a group with whom I workshop my personal writing projects. I spend a decent amount of time reading poetry and fiction when left to my own devices, but I also have a weakness for television and may just as likely be found catching up on reality shows.