I am a graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a BA in English and Secondary Education focusing mainly upon Literature (both Classical and Modern), Drama, and Writing Theory. After graduation, I taught Juniors in High School in Central Illinois, serving mainly to aid the school in refreshing old curricula and raising test scores. The main passion of my education career is English and English mastery because regardless of age or ability level, every student has the potential to polish a deeper understanding of our complex language. This mastery is achieved through all aspects of English - Writing (essay and creative), Reading for Comprehension, Speech, and Drama. In addition to assisting students in these aspects, I am also exceptionally familiar with standardized tests, especially Reading, English, and Science portions. While I don't agree with the strict "teach to the test" method, I firmly believe teaching the strategies of test taking (especially in the above portions) are essential to successful test scores. Overall, I believe education must come from encouragement that learning is a lifelong, worthwhile pursuit, not a memorize-it-until-the-test mentality. Only by pursuing that level of encouragement can students genuinely grasp and grow from the subjects they intake. Outside of teaching and tutoring, I try to keep up with modern literature, participate in local theater, swim, and play the occasional video game.