I enjoy sharing my love of reading, writing, language, and learning with students. I journal regularly and sometimes write songs for guitar, which I love to play.

I have tutored English language learners in all subjects both in and out of school settings. I lived, taught, and tutored in Caracas, Venezuela, for over a year and a half and in Los Angeles, California, for three years. The appeal of the Detroit area is the diversity of people I’m privileged to work with.

Bilingual, I’ve found that Spanish grammar and vocabulary studies have helped me better understand and teach English grammar and vocabulary. For six years I taught middle school Spanish, and for one year I taught elementary Spanish.   

I enjoy working with students from a wide range of backgrounds, including English language learners and students with special needs. Joining the Inkwell team gives me an opportunity to share my love of language and my experience teaching writing and reading with my students.

Degree: B.A., Hope College; M.A., Oakland University

Major: Language Arts Composite for Elementary Teaching; Masters in Reading

Special Training: Reading Level Diagnostics, Creating Reading Plans, Reading and Writing Strategies; CPI training; on-site training in reading and writing strategies for students in autism spectrum

Years of Experience: 16+

Hero: Mother Teresa

High–Impact Books: Thirty Years with the Silent Billion by Frank C. Laubach, Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger, Gracias by Henri Nouwen

High–Impact Lecture: Maya Angelou’s “Rainbow in the Clouds” Student Speaker Series address, Hope College, 2001

Favorite Places I’ve Visited: beaches in Venezuela and the Caribbean, mountains in Central America, California coast, Smoky Mountains National Park, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Cambodia, and Peru

Hobbies: reading, traveling, making music, eating food from around the world, hiking, and exploring

Passion: helping students achieve their goals and fostering a passion for life-long learning and discovery

Favorite Quotation: “The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.”–Fred Rogers

While pursuing my degree in English Writing from Spring Arbor University, I began working as a study group leader and teacher’s assistant, offering in-class support and grading for two English 101 courses. At the same time, I provided proofreading services and instruction for over three hundred undergraduate- and graduate-level students. Because of the number of international students seeking help in language skills, our tutoring staff received ESL training to approach non-western writing styles. Realizing how confusing English can be for foreign students, I became passionate about ESL. I could help students who, though often brilliant, struggled to bridge a communication barrier.

Clear communication is the difference between success and failure. So I have heard anecdotally, time and again, from professionals in virtually every field. If people are unable to communicate their ideas and intentions effectively, the consequences range from wasted time to strained workplace politics. I deeply love literature, but I recognize that language has to be practical in its daily usage. Especially in our modern global economy, good communication skills can open doors. My mission is to help students open them for themselves.

I have seen what is on the other side of those doors. Not only have I worked as a tutor, but after graduation I entered the writing field. I have seen firsthand how writing skills translate into the real world workplace. I have worked in journalism, film documentary, fundraising, copy editing, and marketing. I am excited to use the skills I’ve acquired in tutoring and professional writing to serve students at Inkwell English Education.

Degree: B.A.

Major: English Writing

Special Training: Spring Arbor University Writing Center tutor, teacher’s assistant, grading, ESL training; AFS style (sports journalism) training; CPS courses in Publishing and Technical Writing from Champlain College

Years of Experience: 6

Hero: Madeleine L’Engle

High-Impact Books: Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, Ursula LeGuin’s The Dispossessed, Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina

High Impact Lecture: “Darkness as Illumination: God and the Prison-House of Language” by Dr. Brent Cline

Favorite Places I’ve Visited: Rocky Mountain State Park and Guatemala

Hobbies: rock climbing, traveling, reading, making music, drawing

Passion: documentary filmmaking

Favorite Quotation: “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain

 

I enjoy sharing my passion for words and my love of books and poetry during tutorial sessions in the office, online, and off-site. I also teach summer writing camps and have conducted classes in cooperation with groups in Michigan such as Homeschool Connections in Rochester and Oxford, New Life Christian Church in Troy, the American Chinese School of Greater Detroit in Birmingham, and Kumon Learning Center. Married since 1975, my husband and I have a beautiful family.

Degree: B.A.

Major: English

Special Training: The Lost Tools of Writing™ intensive, C. S. Lewis Summer Institute, CEUs in classical Christian education

Years of Experience: 30+

Hero: Noah Webster

High–Impact Books: Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis, Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer, The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

High–Impact Lecture: “The Power of Language for Reconciliation” by Elie Weisel, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, on Aug. 21, 2008, at Rochester College, MI

Favorite Places I’ve Visited: the Jane Austen House in Chawton, England; the shopping square accessed from a tiny cobbled lane that runs into Grafton Street in downtown Dublin; the breathtaking drive to the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion, Greece; the white sand beach at Turks and Caicos; Stratford, Ontario’s Shakespeare festival

Hobbies: collecting antique grammar, spelling, and reading textbooks; breeding Cavalier King Charles spaniels, writing poetry

Passion: connecting deeply with people, helping them to understand themselves and others

Favorite Quotation: “Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.”–Robert Benchley

I have always been a reader. My high school Honors English teacher inspired my love of reading and writing. She was particularly fond of British literature and poetry, and each month, we were assigned different poems to memorize. As I worked these words over and over again in my mind, I began to appreciate their lasting power in a way I had never appreciated it before. This experience fuels my desire to share the timelessness of poetic writing with my students to this day!

In high school, I found such joy in sharing my reading and writing with my peers. As I began to plan for my future, I realized that I could maximize my strengths and passions as a teacher in the English classroom.

In 2009, I moved to New York to study English Education at New York University, where my teacher training introduced me to a variety of learners from many unique backgrounds. I felt privileged to teach literature to teenagers on the rich backdrop of New York City. I presented on classroom discipline at the Conference of English Educator’s bi-annual assembly in 2013 and obtained AP certification at Manhattan College in August of 2014. In my current post, I teach 9th and 10th grade Language Arts and AP Language and Composition.

Degree: B.S.

Major: English Education 7-12

Special Training: certification in CollegeBoard AP Language and Composition, training in Dual-Language English/Spanish Education, member of National Council of Teachers of English, tutor with New York University’s STEP SAT program

Years of Experience: 3 yrs. in the classroom, many years as a tutor

Hero: T. S. Eliot

High–Impact Books: Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

High–Impact Lecture: “On the Uses of Liberal Education” by Mark Edmundson and “This Is Water” by David Foster Wallace

Favorite Places I’ve Visited: Buenos Aires, Argentina; Durban, South Africa; Dublin, Ireland

Hobbies: riding bikes, reading poetry, playing violin, knitting

Passion: sharing the timelessness of poetry

Favorite Quotation: “If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.”–Ralph Waldo Emerson

For more than half of my life I have been involved in teaching and training, particularly in the language arts. When I worked with adults through the Laubach Literacy program in Wayne County during the ’80s, I also served in two cooperatives, assisting young people with their grammar, composition, and critical thinking skills.

In the ’90s I served as a corporate manager, training a team of associates in communication techniques and networking concepts to increase sales and marketing performance. Over the last decade my focus has shifted to the school population.

I have taught using a classical curriculum model, developed and implemented a “Character Counts” program for preschool and elementary students, and designed various genre writing workshops for middle school students.

I have worked with and tutored students in a wide range of areas — math, remedial reading, choral music, art, history, and ESL. Over the years I have found that I am most enthusiastic when working with young people, especially middle school students. I enjoy influencing their lives positively.

Degree: B.R.E.

Major: Education

Special Training: Hillsdale College Center for Teacher Excellence, ABeka Publications educators’ conferences, Storytelling/Writing Seminar with William Wilder, Storytelling Convention, Ohio Christian Educators Convention, CHEM Educator Conventions, INCH Educator Conventions

Years of Experience: 25+

Hero: Bronte sisters

High–Impact Books: The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise

High–Impact Lecture: Dr. Dell Tackett’s “The Truth Project”

Favorite Places I’ve Visited: Mt. Vernon, Monticello, Hawaii, and Rome

Hobbies: reading historical novels, writing, music, travel, gardening, art, and crafts

Passion: working with children

Favorite Quotation: “O Lord, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!”–Shakespeare’s Henry VI