Primary School Experience
For seven years I worked at Pinewood Elementary School (Mounds View, Minnesota) as a library para and, later, as the library administrator. I also taught 1st and 2nd grade Elementary Targeted Services after school classes for at risk students. In addition to managing the library, I worked one on one with many of the school’s most vulnerable students and struggling readers. Working with these students made me realize that they did not have the best books for their needs, so I wrote and won grants totalling over $15,000 to purchase books designed to reach struggling readers. The transformation was amazing. Suddenly, struggling readers were reading books and so PROUD of it!
University Experience
I taught for four years at the University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah) as an adjunct Professor in the Writing Dept, English Dept and Honors Program. I taught both introductory and advanced writing and literature courses as well as honors courses. In addition, I helped grade writing placement essays and supervised the TA for Writing 210. Working extensively in the Writing Program, I saw first hand how writing skills powered student success across the curriculum. I was awarded the Honors Professor of the Year Award.
Current
I currently tutor students across London, working in many public libraries: Byron, Central, Sherwood, Bostwick and Masonville.
I tutor ESL students in China every morning for SayABC.
I tutor primary/secondary students in China through AiLingua, helping them aquire the writing and reading skills to successfully study abroad.
Education:
University of Toronto
BA with High Distinction, 1988 Double Major in Literary Studies and Philosophy
Cornell University
PhD Comparative Literature, 1994
Masters, Comparative Literature, 1991
TEFLEN Training College
TEFL-TESOL Certification - 60 Hour Foundation TESOL course, July 2018