I am an experienced educator with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Fordham University. I taught reading, writing, grammar and public speaking successfully in three middle schools. I have also been a reading and writing tutor for five years for students in elementary, middle, and high school. I have a proven track record of moving students from below to above grade level performance in each of these areas. My approach is individualized intervention strategies tied to "real-world" applications of skills. This assures that students are not just learning content, but understand the context in which the content is useful for college and career success. Ninety-six percent of my students passed the state ELA exam after being scored below grade level the previous school year. I enjoy teaching language arts because I believe it's the gateway to understanding ourselves and the world around us.