Heather
Certified Tutor
I am a certified teacher in both Tennessee and Oregon with my Master of Arts in Teaching from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee. I currently work for Portland Public Schools and Portland State University, where I teach English as a Second Language.
I began teaching after my college graduation in 2006 at English as Second Language International, which prepared non-native English speaking students to enter an American university setting. From there, I was accepted into the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program and spent a year working in Japanese middle schools. I also did volunteer work in Ireland for a year. I worked full time for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools while a graduate student. I moved to Oregon in 2011.
I have taught people of all ages in many different subject areas. I enjoy writing and reading, which are two strengths of mine as an educator. I understand, as someone who has graded many papers, what makes a good paper and how to help a student produce one on their own. I also love history and took my tiny high school's only AP class; AP U.S. History.
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Undergraduate Degree: Western Kentucky University - Bachelors, Creative Writing
Graduate Degree: Trevecca Nazarene University - Masters, Education
Reading, writing, traveling, language learning
- ACCUPLACER ESL
- ACT Writing
- AP United States History
- AP US History
- College English
- College Essays
- College Level American History
- Comparative Literature
- English
- English Grammar and Syntax
- ESL/ELL
- Essay Editing
- High School English
- High School Level American History
- History
- Homework Support
- Literature
- Other
- Phonics
- Public Speaking
- Reading
- Social Studies
- Study Skills
- Study Skills and Organization
- Test Prep
- Writing
What is your teaching philosophy?
Everyone has something that they are good at doing, something they love. That can be tapped to increase academic success.
What might you do in a typical first session with a student?
Get to know what they want from tutoring and what they feel about learning.
How can you help a student become an independent learner?
By helping them make goals and giving them the tools to reach them.
How would you help a student stay motivated?
By helping them set goals they can feel successful about reaching.
If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?
Find out if there is any underlying cause to the difficulty and help then find ways to use what they already know for academic success.
How do you help students who are struggling with reading comprehension?
Pre-teaching vocabulary and important concepts and checking in throughout the reading.
What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?
Patience and organization.
How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?
Relate it to something they are interested in already.
What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?
Formative and summative assessments.
How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?
Give them small successes along the way that lead to large ones.