Kenisha C.

Potent Tutoring & Test Prep: English, Algebra, HSPT/SAT/ACT/CBEST

Potent Tutoring & Test Prep: English, Algebra, HSPT/SAT/ACT/CBEST

To help me help you:
1. Please, be sure to have payment information on file. I may not respond to you otherwise.
2. Know that messages sent during holidays do not receive responses until the next business day.
3. Know that diagnostic exams are given to everyone at the regular hourly rate -- no exceptions.
4. Submit serious inquiries only. Be ready to state and honor a definite start date. Be ready to see your program through 'til the end.
5. Understand that I don't take a fast food approach to any of this. If you're looking for a quick fix, or if you're not ready to hear that you may need to study for a minimum of 20 hours, I am not the teacher or tutor for you.

Thanks for understanding.

Focusing on students' different learning modalities, goals, abilities, and interests helps me boost students' confidence, which helps them achieve their academic goals. My tutoring and test prep students become optimally prepared for tests. Knowing tricky grammatical and mechanical principles or determining probabilities may not be necessary in communicating basic ideas, but that knowledge makes a big difference in students' class placements, and it makes an even bigger difference when competing for college placements and scholarships. Show me a rightly placed preposition, and I'll show you the money.

While I love a good challenge, it's still heartbreaking to be approached by students (or parents of students) who earn A's and B's at school, but can't earn 1050 on the SAT, or who take an ESL course, but can't (or are afraid) to speak English (when necessary to meet a goal). There are standards to be met, and I do whatever I can to help my students meet or exceed them.

To help personalize students' experiences and ensure relevance of sessions:
1. Written and oral assessments are used to gauge strengths and weaknesses.
2. Periodic quizzes are administered; their regularity depends on how often students meet with me.
3. Exit exams are administered at the end of students' programs.

All I ask is that students are ready to:
1. Shift their priorities and invest adequate time and energy into getting the results they want.
2. Be on time.
3. Openly communicate their needs, pleasures, and nots.
4. Understand that while they may notice improvements as early as the first session, total success will take time, so sustained efforts will be required.

My 10+ years in the educational arena--and ongoing professional development--have taught me the importance of helping students shift from lower- to higher-order thinking, which is really only coaching students to go from knowing the "what" of a things to putting all those "whats" together to understand the "hows" and "whys". There's no magic. I do what I do, and the rest only works if students (and parents) do their parts.

I have a degree in English (with special emphasis on secondary education), and an ESL certification. Primarily, I teach English and language arts at the secondary and post-secondary levels (i.e., middle school, high school, college), but I have a knack for teaching math and algebra, so I offer lessons in those areas, as well. Prepping students for standardized tests--US Naturalization (Civics and English), SAT, ACT, HSPT, CBEST, CSET: English--is a love a mine, too.

Whether for summer or winter enrichment, test prep, help with the naturalization exam, or just a general safety net, be sure to contact me, and we can determine how to work together to get the results desired by you or your child.

Peace and Best,
Kenisha

P.S., Be sure to bring all of who you are to your sessions. Creased, crumpled, crimped, or saggy: I don't care. Just be ready to do better.