Kathleen

Rate $25
Response 24h

$25/h

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English
Essay writing

33 years public school teaching experience!! Master of Arts in Education; Retired secondary (6-12) English teacher with a passion for teaching writing. Learn "tricks of the trade" that can carry you

English
Essay writing

Lesson location

- At Kathleen's house: Florence
- online
- at your home or a public place : will travel up to 20 mi. from Florence

About Kathleen

Hello students! My name is Kathleen Fittro and I am a retired secondary English teacher of 33 years, wife to my husband, Todd, for 31 years, proud mother of two boys, Preston (civil engineer) and Robert (health insurance broker), mother-in-"love" to two AWESOME gals, Sarah (medical school) and Ciara (civil engineer), and soon-to-be grandmother (KK) to baby Kingston in January 2022!
I am so very excited to meet you and to help tackle any academic challenges you may be experiencing in the classroom. My philosophy of education is that ALL students can learn if given enough time, proper instruction, and individualized accommodations to fit the needs of the student. I believe learning should be fun, and in order for me to help you achieve your academic goals, I invite you to ask MANY questions pertaining to the subject at hand. I look forward to coaching you and winning in the classroom!

About the lesson

First, I love to get to know my students and what makes them tick. Being personable and letting my students know I care about them is very important to me. I am not only their teacher, but also their mentor.

For creative and literary analysis writing, I use a formula driven approach called the "Jane Schaffer Writing Program," which helps students explore and support ideas for all types of writing assignments. Once a strong base for assigned writing assignments is established, then I model how to adapt to higher level writing assignments.

Body paragraphs are the "meat and potatoes" of any writing assignment from 6th grade to 12 grade and beyond. Once students understand the mechanics of what constitutes a strong paragraph, then they can build on this structure.

A typical lesson plan:

For 11th grade American literature students to understand at the analysis level the character development of Jay Gatsby, so that when given a timed literary analysis writing prompt, the learner will outline a 5 paragraph essay response in 3-5 minutes and then use this outline to develop and complete a well-written rough draft analysis in class using the Schaffer Writing Method with 75% accuracy.

In this assignment, students will quickly brainstorm an outline using the "spaceship outline" taught in class, then grab their laptops and begin typing a strong rough draft to their assignment. Body paragraphs should focus on 2, 1:2 "chunks" including the topic sentence, chunks, transitional words, and a concluding sentence. Additionally, students will color code their sentences in each paragraph to assure all parts are included for a strong body paragraph.

Example for body paragraphs:

Topic sentence = TS (blue)
Concrete detail from the novel to support topic sentence =
1st CD = (red)
Commentary = CM (green)
Commentary = CM (green)
Transitional word
2nd CD = (red)
CM = (green)
CM = (green)
Closing sentence = CS (blue)

As a tutor, my years of experience in the classroom teaching grades 6-12 and extroverted people skills sets me apart. I am also an athlete, so earlier in my career I coached girls volleyball and boys tennis. I like for my students to know that I understand they have a "life" outside the classroom, and as stated earlier, I like to know what activities, clubs, sports, etc, they are involved both in and outside of school. Likewise, I continually share my likes, hobbies, family, etc with them and use as examples when appropriate.

My lessons are for Language Arts/English grades 6-12.

33 years public school teaching experience!! Master of Arts in Education; Retired secondary (6-12) English teacher with a passion for teaching writing. Learn "tricks of the trade" that can carry you

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About Kathleen

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33 years public school teaching experience!! Master of Arts in Education; Retired secondary (6-12) English teacher with a passion for teaching writing. Learn "tricks of the trade" that can carry you

Lesson location

About Kathleen

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Pack rates

online

Other tutors in English

Shandi

Paula

Rachel

Amber

Riley

Laura

Camille

Mary

Davayne

Al Hamza

Blake

Sandy

Johann Nicholas

Lyle

Brais

Robert

Beccalynn

Victoria

Shannon

Mimi

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