My name is Gretchen and I'm a professor with 25+ years of classroom teaching and one-on-one tutoring experience. I possess a broad range of teaching experience (including working with autism spectrum preschoolers, ESL elementary and middle school learners and undergraduate filmmakers) and I thrive on the challenge of tailoring content for each and every kind of student. My work in higher education reinforces my belief that a strong academic foundation early on is crucial to lifelong success. In all of my teaching, I'm passionate about advancing academic progress and helping students develop critical-thinking skills.

My experience has shown me that students respond well to positive reinforcement. I bring patience, flexibility and enthusiasm to my lessons. I'm also realistic schoolwork/test prep needs to get done. It is important for me to assess a student's abilities so that I can understand how to best instruct to their level and their needs. I also work with them to understand how they are learning. Are they practicing the skills that they haven't mastered on a regular basis? For standardized tests, given the time constraints, do they have strategies for solving the problems they are unsure of? I believe that repetition builds confidence and helps strengthen academic success in other areas. (Where appropriate, I like to suggest extra materials for students to work on between sessions.)

I'm looking forward to working with your student and I'm happy to answer all questions or schedule a lesson! (If you are curious, ask me about my stint in Japan where I had over 4000 students in 2 years as well as my recent volunteer tutoring success with an ESL second grader.)