Rachel

Certified Tutor

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. Reading naturally led me to write at a very young age. I won an award for stories submitted to the Young Author's Association, two years in a row, at the age of 9 and 10. It seemed that anything involving the written word was in my destiny.

Fast forward quite a few years on that path and I graduated college with a degree in English Literature. It was during my time as an undergraduate that I wrote for newspapers, helped publish an education plan for the United States Forest Service, published some short stories and poetry, and I volunteered with AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps put me into a kindergarten classroom as an assistant and I immediately fell in love with teaching. It was during this time that I realized, with joy, that I could spend my time with literature while teaching it to others. As soon as I graduated, I then enrolled into a masters program to earn my Master of Education degree.

While I pursued my master's degree, I volunteered at inner-city Denver schools as a reading tutor. And, shortly after graduating, I was hired by the Denver School of Science and Technology to be a tutor for ESL/ELL students. I really enjoyed that job because I could see progress on my students' faces as I was teaching them and the flexibility of my own curriculum meant that I could tailor my lessons to their own personal needs. That truly made a difference to their lives as their grades continued to climb.

I moved to Tucson in November 2015 where I segued right into tutoring through an agency. I have continued to tutor for this agency while I worked at other jobs, one of which was as a paraprofessional in a special needs classroom all the while continuing to tutor on my own.

Today, I celebrate over 5 years as a successful tutor. I love what I do; I love bringing understanding of English and literature to people who find it intimidating. My ultimate goal is to eventually earn a doctorate. Even when that dream becomes reality, I will still continue to tutor. I enjoy it way too much.