Mrs. Teacher
About
I am a highly experienced teacher with over 20 years of classroom experience with elementary school children. I would love the chance to teach your student! I am quite comfortable tutoring online using Zoom and prefer that to traveling however, I do tutor at my house also.
My teaching specialties include teaching reading, phonics, writing, handwriting, spelling, and history (I can also teach math up to third grade but after that I turn it over to the experts). I have successfully taught students with emotional, behavioral, learning, and other issues as well as children who simply need to catch up to their grade level. In my present school I teach second grade boys and also provide consultation for curriulum planning, and design one-to-one or small group individualized instruction in Language Arts with an emphasis on literacy.
One of the things that my students like about me is that I can be very funny and dynamic when I explain different concepts, but I also make it clear that I expect them to take their learning seriously. My students understand that I want each of them to do their best according to their individual needs. I also like to keep kids continually challenged even if they work at a faster pace. Therefore I have developed a wide variety of enrichment activities including age appropriate crosswords, word finds, spelling games, math pages, sodoku pages, and other things. I am always looking for more activities that will appeal to my students while developing their thinking skills at the same time.
My greatest strength is that I adapt my teaching approach and style to the individual needs of each student. I can quickly discern the strengths and weaknesses of a learner and adapt my style and content. I am familiar with the learning needs of children with a wide variety of issues such as difficulty focussing, sensory issues, emotional difficulties,
I have a Bachelors in Liberal Arts and have also completed a teacher education program for elementary school level students.I also have a masters degree in health education. I am currently pursuing a masters in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in reading and literacy.
I love working with students and helping them feel successful. I enjoy teaching them by meeting their unique needs.
Highlights
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Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
I begin by briefly talking about my experience as a teacher and how excited I am to be working with the student and what we are going to be learning together. I ask about the student's past experiences with learning the particular subject and how I have helped lots of kids to become successful.
After that, I would assess the student's current level of knowledge in the subject area and identify strengths and weaknesses. I would start to identify instructional strategies that would meet the student's unique needs.
If you want to read about my work more in depth, in this paragraph I talk about how I would work with a student struggling with reading and writing. I use a quick reading assessment test to identify current weaknesses in letter sounds and phoneme recognition including blends and sight words, and progressing up to fluency, etc. The student and I would plan out a few short sentences that the student brainstorms with me and then writes down. This gives me a good grasp of their writing ability including grammar, puncuation, handwriting, sentence structure, etc. If this was an older student I might request a writing sample be brought to the first session so we could look at it together. If there are any other problem areas that the student himself or the parent/guardian has identified, then we look at those together.
The point is to gather as much information as possible to map out the best instruction and content approach for the student.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
First of all, I am the mother of five children so I have quite a bit of experience with tutoring them from preschool and through high school.
I love going to school and have taken classes wherever I have lived. I have taken courses in a wide variety of areas and earned a BA in Liberal Arts as well as an MS in health sciences. In addition, I have completed the requirements for teacher licensure at the elementary grades level. I am currently pursuing a Masters degree in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on literacy and writing.
Do you have a standard pricing system for your lessons? If so, please share the details here.
My standard pricing starts at $60.00 for the first session. If the student and I are a "match" and decides to commit to a pre-arranged number of sessions then my rate/lesson is lower.
How did you get started teaching?
I started teaching over 20 years ago. I got my first job when I happened to tell a friend I was interested in classroom teaching after doing free lance tutoring. I got an interview the next day and started two weeks later! Once I realized that I enjoyed teaching and loved using creative approaches to teaching concepts, I returned to school and took the necessary education classes for the license.
What types of students have you worked with?
I work with elementary school-aged students. I have taught in classes ranging from 15-29 children. When I teach second grade, my students always range from quite gifted to ones who are struggling just to identify letter sounds. I enjoy the challenge of meeting each student's individual needs and getting everybody excited about learning.
I have not taught high school students but I have tutored them in writing.
Describe a recent event you are fond of.
At the start of this year, I had a student in my class who was barely reading. Since he also had behavior problems, he could not be "pulled out" for extra small group instruction since he wouldn't behave for anyone else. His mother told me that he never read at home and in class I could see that he felt bad about himself. I worked with him in my reading group and also was able to pull him aside for a few minutes every day so we could read something fun together. I watched as he became more confident in his reading ability and felt great pride when his mom told me that he always wants to read for her and also reads for fun all the time at home.
What advice would you give a student looking to hire a teacher in your area of expertise?
Of course, you would look at the potential tutor's experience and background. When reading a tutor's bio, you want to look for someone who can design sessions that combine focussed work with an individualized approach to learning. For younger students, I think it helps to hire a mom who has raised children as they typically have a solid idea of what works with children and how to handle different personalities.
What questions should students think through before talking to teachers about their needs?
A student should identify what has and hasn't worked in the classroom or with a individual teacher so far. Students should think about the kind of teacher they usually like: kind, funny, creative, project-oriented, structured, etc. Also students should think about their goals and expectations. However, while a student can identify these things prior to meeting the tutor, the most important things are that the teacher is a match in terms of personality and shows the student that she is confident and capable.