Made Sensical

I have been a tutor, a teacher, and a writing consultant since 2009. I was a Fulbrighter teaching English as a second language in Malaysia. I have taught in classes where every student had all the resources and supports they could want to students predominantly made of those with free or reduced lunch with many in gangs or living on the streets. I specialize in tutoring students with dyslexia and transforming students from those disinterested in all things English to thoughtful and passionate readers, writers, and thinkers.

In the classroom, I'm a bit of a no-nonsense teacher always wanting to refine fundamentals for every student while trying to add creative flair and humor where I can. Differentiation is extremely important to me because I want my lessons and activities to be rigorous for every student but also have the supports they need. I love teaching classic works of literature while providing opportunities for students to sample and explore more contemporary works. The humanities approach incorporating music, art, literature, drama, and philosophy together often appears in my units. Poetry is a staple in my classroom and not an isolated unit (though I've done that, too). When it comes to crafting materials, I always like to make everything bespoke and usually create exemplars myself because I never want to ask students to complete a task I'm unwilling to do myself.

Fulbright ETA

I started in a regular public school but due to bullying, I was homeschooled by my mother for most of first through eighth grade. After that, I returned to a public high school where I found my love of English and passion for teaching. After graduating, I attended a private university where I majored in English doing a double concentration in Education and Literature. Like Gatsby, I am an Oxford [Wo]man because I spent a term at Oxford but didn't graduate from there.