My name is Carolyn and I graduated in 2007 from Wittenberg University (OH) with a B.A. in English and Minor in Music (flute). While at Wittenberg University, I informally tutored English and taught flute lessons to middle school students. I have worked with students on both the elementary school and middle school levels teaching English Language Arts and Music. I have experience working with students in grades 6-8 on English Language Arts. I recently graduated from Simmons College (MA) with an Master of Arts in Teaching degree (M.A.T.) in Secondary Education, specifically middle school. I completed my student teaching at Pollard Middle School in Needham, MA-8th grade English and am now certified by the Commonwealth of MA to teach English (5-8). In addition to my coursework at Simmons College, I played flute/piccolo for the Colleges of the Fenway Orchestra and I continue to serve as the piccoloist.
I love working with children in all capacities and I am currently working on my second Masters degree (M.S.) at the University of La Verne (CA) to become a Child Life Specialist. I have volunteered in the Child Life departments at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in the Pediatric Emergency Department and at Connecticut Children's Medical Center on the Hematology/Oncology in-patient floor, and most recently completed a child life practicum at Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach, in Long Beach, CA.
When I design lesson plans I lay out the lesson with objectives, activities, and assessments that will reach a range of students below level, on level, and advanced to ensure that each student will have a positive learning experience. When I tutor, I first see where the student is at and what the student's strengths and weaknesses are and then design a plan accordingly.
Teaching eighth grade English Language Arts was a challenge but I enjoyed working with the students and watch them grow. I have taught Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and through this unit, I engaged the students through group work, acting, and lecture. I have worked with a few students on an individual basis on reading comprehension skills and the basic foundation for understanding Shakespeare. I taught the novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and during this unit, the students participated in group work activities, a directed reading activity, and I showed them clips from a documentary on Mark Twain. While teaching this novel, I also taught a mini unit on speeches because all students were required to write a speech for a grade and the best speeches would be read at the eighth grade graduation.
During my time in the Medfield, MA Public Schools I taught 6th grade English and taught the novel Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen and grammar. During the Harris and Me unit, I had the students doing a lot of group work, acting/reading, and response to the novel writing pieces to keep the students engaged in the story. I also taught the elements of fiction during this unit. For the grammar unit I had the students write a song to remember the pronouns, and I used a grammar book to help the students learn nouns, verbs, adjectives, and pronouns.
I am very creative and I am able to use my creativity to plan fun and interesting lessons for the students. I am also able to incorporate my knowledge from college English courses and the Arts into my lessons by modifying the material to make it understandable and accessible to the students. When I worked with seventh grade students, I taught the students about the Harlem Renaissance in order to get them ready to study Langston Hughes. An example of my creativity is when I was teaching poetry and the lesson was focused around teaching different types of poetry. I set up “stations” and each station was focused on a different type of poetry. The students went to each station in groups of four and came away with an original poem that could be put in their poetry books.
I am also an experienced and accomplished flutist and piccoloist having considerable experience on both. Throughout high school and college, I served as principal flutist and solo piccoloist for the band and I also participated in a variety of chamber music ensembles such as flute choir (bass flute, alto flute, concert flute, and piccolo), a flute duo, a flute and violin duo, a woodwind quintet and I have also auditioned for and been selected to play the bass flute in the National Flute Association Professional Flute Choir. I have also been a member of state honor bands on both flute and piccolo at the high school and college level. While at Wittenberg University, I played the flute for several musical groups on campus, including for student recitals and with the choirs. I also did much solo performing throughout high school and college, including playing a flute concerto with my high school band my senior year.
I am comfortable teaching beginner through advanced flute students and also those who are interested in learning to play the piccolo. I am also comfortable getting students of like-ability together to play chamber music and music written for flute choir. While a graduate student at the University of La Verne, I taught flute lessons to children in elementary and middle school. While at Wittenberg University, I taught flute lessons to middle school students.
It is my goal to combine my love of English and the Arts, my creativity, intelligence, and my range of experience, and use those skills to be an enthusiastic, intelligent, compassionate tutor in both English and flute.
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