Laura: South Holland tutor

Certified Tutor

When I meet a new student, their interests and goals become part of our lesson. Each individual brings a fresh perspective to the material and makes tutoring a fun and fulfilling job!

I specialize in tutoring Reading, English composition and Grammar and Vocabulary for E-12. Additionally, I work with college students on research papers and essays.

My B.A. is in English Composition from the University of Texas at Austin. I have post-graduate work in technical writing, publishing and child development.

My background includes tutoring students as well as adults. I spent 15 years assisting adults with writing books, research papers, operational and computer procedures, proposals and workbooks.

When tutoring, I always start with curiosity about the student. What motivates them? What are their interests and purposes? Where does their expertise lie? When I know their avenues of interest, I am better able to adapt materials and lessons to keep them engaged. For example, a student who is an expert violin player with an interest in classical music, might be able to relate to the structure of an essay if it were compared to the structure of a concerto. A student who loves to paint and draw might benefit from creating a mind-map of her thesis and its arguments before writing anything.

For younger students, I have often found that simply asking them about their dreams and interests and tying their academic achievements to those dreams creates a strong will to learn.

My experience working with students includes one-on-one tutoring with elementary students in the Communities in Schools program.

I have taught classes for grades 3-12 in both school districts and in private after-school programs for Chinese students.

I have received Montessori training and often rely on project-oriented work to engage students. My teaching philosophy is to be a guide for the student, using their own interests to leverage their learning. I have studied the Kagan method of learning using different modalities such as concrete touch, visual/audio and abstract. I like to start with the most engaging and kinesthetic approach and then move into review using abstract modes such as simply completing written questions. An example of a project-oriented final grammar/vocabulary "exam" would be the completion of one or more newspaper articles, a play or a short story with dialogue.

I have worked extensively with undergraduate and graduate students to research, craft and edit their essays for English, History, Government, Sociology, Computer Science, Psychology and Education classes.

Outside of academia I am interested in hiking, horses, volunteering in prisons with The Messages Project, yoga meditation and cooking.