Lisa: Smithtown tutor

Certified Tutor

I got my bachelors at Washington University in St. Louis, double majoring in Environmental Earth Science and Germanic Language and Literature, and minoring in Writing. Currently I'm working towards my PhD in Marine Science at Stony Brook University (NY), doing research in the field of marine biogeochemistry. That's a bit of a mouthful, but basically it means I study the way living things interact with the chemistry of the ocean, and how that interaction gets recorded in mud and rock. Based on this expertise, I enjoy tutoring in general science, chemistry, and earth science.

I also have a solid foundation in the language arts, having worked for three years as a Writing Mentor at Washington University in St. Louis. During this time, I was trained to help students with writing projects at any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming to line-editing. When I studied abroad in Germany for a year, I worked as a tutor for German students with English writing projects. This was a wonderful experience that allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of English academic writing by approaching it from a non-native perspective, while simultaneously improving my fluency in German, which I have studied for ten years. Following these experiences, I also enjoy tutoring in writing, English, German, and the Reading/Writing/Language sections of standardized tests (ACT, SAT, and GRE). My favorite subject to tutor is writing; I love to write myself, and there is nothing better than being able to help students develop confidence and enjoyment in their own writing.

When I'm tutoring in any subject, my focus is not on the completion of a short-term task, like a specific assignment or test; rather, my goal is always to use the task at hand to help the student become a better reader, writer, learner, and thinker. Above all, I aim to teach the student to teach themselves; the ultimate accomplishment for me as a tutor is to no longer be needed.

When I'm not teaching or doing research, I like to write stories, read science fiction books, play violin with the University Orchestra, and hang out with my two parakeets, Max and Pogo.