With over a decade of experience in classroom and educational settings plus six years as a dedicated virtual tutor, I bring a well-rounded, student-centered approach to every session. I specialize in creating personalized, engaging lessons that help learners gain confidence, fill in gaps, and move ahead with clarity and purpose. Whether working with students who need extra support or those ready for enrichment, I tailor instruction to fit each individual's learning style and goals. My goal is always to make learning approachable, effective, and empowering.

As I reflect on my beliefs regarding teaching and learning, I find that my mission as a teacher is threefold: to promote positive learning; to spark learner enthusiasm for learning; and to provide a strong foundation for lifelong learning. To accomplish this, I enjoy applying a wide variety of strategies based on essential educational principles encompassing cognitive functioning, learning theory, diversity issues, instructional planning and assessment. Besides teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family, bike riding, playing tennis and traveling and making memories with my family.

Dusty is my real name. Outside of learning I love to make things from yarn and sewing. More than that, I love to be outside in my garden and have as many adventures as possible. I am also a mom to a little boy who also loves to be outside. Together, we watch movies and TV. In everything I do, no matter how fun or not, I try to learn something. When helping someone else learn, I learn too. The spark in a student's eyes when they understand the problem they are working on bring such joy to my life it is hard to describe. I have been teaching English online to students from Spanish speaking countries, Chinese speaking places, and students from South Korea. These students have been 3 to 83 years old. I love teaching students from other countries, I learn so much while helping students learn. It is like traveling from the comfort of home.

My passion for teaching has been strong since the 5th grade. The inspiration of my 5th grade teacher and my 9th grade math teacher are the reason I enjoy watching the light click when the student understands the concept that you are teaching them. I believe that every child is capable of many things given the opportunity.

I am passionate about tutoring because I love facilitating the love of academic success. School was always fun for me; unfortunately I know that is not the case for everyone and tutoring gives me the platform to share my love for learning. My experience tutoring involves mostly writing, I enjoy assisting with improving student's writing skills and proofreading papers before they are turned in to improve students' scores. I received my Bachelors of Arts from Oregon State University and my Masters of Education from Concordia University. It was during my time at Concordia as a graduate student that I discovered my love for tutoring! I currently tutor in the subjects of reading, writing, and English ACT test taking. My favorite subject to tutor is APA writing assistance; writing in the APA format can be challenging! I enjoy the challenge and especially helping students to improve their writing skills in this format. In my spare time I enjoy reading, drinking strong coffee, traveling, playing with my children, and anything outdoors here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest!

As a highly motivated and experienced teacher with a strong background in providing effective teaching to students with diverse backgrounds, I am confident I will exceed your expectations. I am confident that my strong desire to help students achieve their academic and career goals, will go a long way in providing high-quality tutoring services.I have been a certified urban education teacher for eleven years and developed excellent knowledge of providing customized academic plans to students as well as families. My ability to work with students, other teachers, administrators and parents to find out their weakest points, and the aspiration to work towards providing strengthening services has been commended many times. Moreover, my know-how to design and conduct workshops and develop interactive materials for students would enable me to produce excellent results. Additionally, I possess a positive attitude and a passion to assist struggling learners.

I was born and raised in San Jose, CA. I moved to Portland, Oregon to obtain my Bachelor's of Arts in English at Concordia University. I have always had a strong personal mission to improve the lives of others, so I went to Willamette University, College of Law to become a lawyer. I practiced family law and estate planning for the over three years. Throughout my college years, I have tutored my fellow students as well as younger grade school students in various subjects. My main passion has revolved around literature and writing. I strongly believe that education is the key to success.

I am a mother, an educator, an artist who loves working with children. I am native to Dallas, TX yet, have had many opportunities to travel the world. One stop was Miami Beach, FL where I attended undergrad school in 2001 at Johnson & Wales University receiving a B.S. in Criminal Justice and worked as a Social Worker for two years. After relocating back to Dallas in 2008, I continued my work with children as a Pre-K teacher. Walking through this door of opportunity opened up a new path that I was destined to take. Since then, I have birthed a son, started a homeschool co-op, obtained a M.Ed in Curriculum & Instruction, as well as, worked in local elementary schools as a Campus Director and Instructor for their in-school tutoring program for reading literacy. As you can see, I wear many hats within my career and continue to expand my mission work with children.I currently work as a 1st grade teacher for the 2017-2018 school year.

Everyone can learn. We all learn at different paces and through different ways and we are all inspired by different things. I hope to help students connect their passions with the skills and foundations that will help them succeed at school, careers, and in life.As a graduate of Bard College and Concordia University, I have degrees in Psychology and in Education. I have a diverse background with experience in many different educational settings from History teacher to Dean to outdoor education. I have been working with students for almost 15 years and love helping others achieve their best. I enjoy working with Social Studies and History as well as Math and Writing. I also enjoy helping students get organized and become more efficient learners. Currently, I oversee a tutoring program at a school in Albuquerque.I am passionate about learning both in school and out and love learning new things all the time. I read lots as well as spend lots of time outdoors. Whenever I have the opportunity to try something new or learn more about how something works, I jump on it!

I received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Linguistics and Spanish from the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. I studied three languages - Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese, - and am fluent in Spanish. More recently, I returned to school to work on a graduate degree in Elementary Education and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon, which is still in progress.As an undergraduate, I tutored English to college students from Asia and the Middle East. For the last several years I have continued to privately tutor adults, primarily in English as a Second Language (ESL), but I have also taught Spanish literacy to native Spanish-speakers. I taught ESL to immigrant adults for six months at a local community college, and spent a year teaching Spanish-speaking adults at a private language school in Vancouver, Washington, where classes were conducted in Spanish. Most recently I worked for a company that provided tutoring to public school elementary children in reading, phonics and math. I taught children from kindergarten through grade 8.I'm so excited to be working for Varsity Tutors because it allows me to put so many of my interests and skills together into one job working with children and adults, teaching languages and math, and relating to cultures and life stories other than my own. I believe that everyone can learn, no matter their age, background, or learning disabilities. I try to approach each student as an individual and adjust learning tasks to fit a student's learning style. My goal is to present learning material in a logical and orderly fashion and to explain concepts in a way that can be easily understood. Students should have concrete examples and practice using the concepts in relevant contexts in order to make learning memorable and permanent. I am dedicated to building my students' confidence and success.Some of my personal interests and hobbies include gardening, hiking, international cooking, and making craft projects with paper and rubbers stamps. I also enjoy identifying and protecting native plants and animals in my region of the U.S., learning and supporting ways of protecting the environment, and developing sustainable business and home-life practices. When I can find appropriate ways to incorporate these interests into my lessons, I try to do so in order to make lessons more interesting and educational for my students.

I'm currently a first grade teacher at KIPP Academy Charter school. I graduated from Mercy College in 2006 with a degree in Psychology, and am currently in graduate school pursuing a masters in Early Childhood Education. I have been teaching for over five years. I have a passion for teaching. I love to see students accomplish their academic goals to become successful in life. I'm also bilingual speaking Spanish/English. My teaching philosophy is every child has a strengths, every child can reach their potential and every child can learn.

To me teaching is all about getting the light bulb to go on. People have different learning styles; the tutor's job is to determine the most effective learning style for each student.