English Teacher & Tutor | SAT/ACT & Common App Essays

Michele R.

ACT Reading

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English and an MAEd in Instructional Technology, with more than 29 years of experience teaching high school English. Throughout my teaching career, I have developed students’ reading comprehension, analysis, inference, and evidence-based reasoning skills across a wide range of ability levels. I know how to teach students to break down ACT Reading questions, identify what each question is asking, analyze passages efficiently, and use evidence from the text to arrive at the best answer. My approach focuses on explicitly teaching the skills and strategies students need while helping them become more confident and efficient readers.

CBEST

I am highly qualified to tutor students preparing for the CBEST because I bring nearly 30 years of experience teaching English, reading, writing, grammar, and communication skills to middle and high school students. I hold a California Single Subject Teaching Credential in English as well as a master’s degree in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Technology, and I have extensive experience helping students strengthen the exact foundational skills they need to perform successfully on a standardized exam. Throughout my teaching career, I have taught English I, II, and III, English intervention, journalism, public speaking, English language support, and test-preparation courses. I have worked with students across a very wide range of ability levels, including students who struggle with reading comprehension, writing organization, grammar, vocabulary, and analyzing written material. This experience allows me to quickly identify where a student is struggling and provide targeted instruction rather than simply giving additional practice questions. My background is particularly well suited to the CBEST Reading and Writing sections. I have spent decades teaching students how to identify main ideas, understand supporting evidence, make inferences, analyze an author's purpose and tone, interpret vocabulary in context, recognize relationships between ideas, and approach complex passages strategically. I also teach students how to develop organized, coherent written responses, use appropriate evidence and reasoning, maintain a clear focus, and revise their writing for clarity, organization, grammar, and effectiveness. I have extensive experience teaching writing at both the sentence and essay levels. My instruction goes beyond correcting grammar or telling students what is wrong. I teach students how to recognize patterns in their own writing, understand why a particular construction is ineffective, and apply that knowledge independently. This is especially important for standardized testing because students need

Common Core

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English and an MAEd in Instructional Technology, with more than 29 years of experience teaching high school English. Throughout my teaching career, I have developed students’ reading comprehension, analysis, inference, and evidence-based reasoning skills across a wide range of ability levels. I know how to teach students to break down ACT Reading questions, identify what each question is asking, analyze passages efficiently, and use evidence from the text to arrive at the best answer. My approach focuses on explicitly teaching the skills and strategies students need while helping them become more confident and efficient readers.

Creative Writing

I am an experienced creative writing teacher with 28 years of classroom experience. I have created and taught engaging creative writing units for high school students, helping them develop strong storytelling, character development, and writing skills. I also teach students online, providing personalized guidance to improve their writing, brainstorming, and revision techniques. In addition, I have published my teaching materials for other educators, demonstrating my expertise in creating clear, structured, and effective writing lessons.

Essay Writing

I am an experienced essay writing teacher with 28 years of classroom experience. I specialize in guiding students through every step of the writing process, including brainstorming, developing ideas, organizing structure, and citing sources correctly in MLA format. I help students read and analyze sources effectively, craft strong thesis statements, and write clear, persuasive, and well-supported essays (including college application essays). My approach is structured, student-centered, and supportive, ensuring each student gains confidence and improves their writing skills.

Executive Functioning

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English from San Diego State University, a BA in English and Broadcast Journalism from San Diego State University, and an MAEd in Instructional Technology from Brandman University. I am currently in my 29th year teaching high school English, and executive functioning has been an important part of my daily work with students. I frequently co-teach and collaborate with special education teachers because the Special Education Department knows that I work effectively with students who have IEPs and 504 plans and who may need additional support with organization, planning, task initiation, time management, and completing multi-step assignments. In my classroom, I regularly break complex assignments and concepts into smaller, manageable steps and provide students with structured handouts, graphic organizers, checklists, models, and other tools that make expectations clear and help students independently navigate their work. I also create executive functioning resources specifically designed to help students organize assignments, manage their workload, prioritize tasks, and develop effective academic routines. I use these resources with my own students and have developed and sold them as educational resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. My 29 years of classroom experience have given me extensive practical experience identifying where students become overwhelmed or stuck and developing individualized strategies and systems to help them move forward and become more independent learners.

Fiction Writing

I am an experienced fiction writing teacher with 28 years of classroom experience. I have created and taught engaging fiction writing units for high school students, helping them develop strong storytelling, plot structure, character development, and creative expression. I also teach students online, guiding them through brainstorming, drafting, revising, and polishing their stories. My lessons are structured, student-centered, and designed to build confidence while fostering a love of writing and imagination.

Grammar

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English and an MAEd in Instructional Technology, with more than 29 years of experience teaching English. I was formally educated in grammar, including sentence diagramming, and have continued to teach grammar consistently throughout my entire teaching career. Grammar is an area of expertise that I use regularly in my own instruction, and I am often the person colleagues turn to when they have questions about grammar or sentence structure. I understand how to explain grammatical concepts clearly and help students apply them to their own reading and writing.

High School Placement Test

I am a certified educator with 29 years of professional classroom teaching experience. Throughout my extensive career, I have mastered the mechanics of writing instruction, essay composition, grammar, and reading comprehension.  While I do not tutor the mathematics subtest, I am highly qualified to prepare candidates for the CBEST Writing and Reading portions. I thoroughly understand the exam's multi-paragraph essay rubrics, thesis development requirements, and the technical language skills needed to pass. My decades of teaching experience allow me to break down complex writing structures and offer actionable feedback that helps aspiring teachers successfully pass these subtests.

Interview Prep

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English from San Diego State University, a BA in English and Broadcast Journalism from San Diego State University, and an MAEd in Instructional Technology from Brandman University. I am currently in my 29th year teaching high school English and have taught a wide range of courses, including Public Speaking, Journalism, Advanced English, English I–III, CAHSEE Test Preparation, and English intervention. I created the curriculum for my district's Public Speaking course and taught the course, including a month-long unit specifically devoted to interviewing skills. Students learned how to prepare for interviews, dress appropriately and present themselves professionally, make a positive first impression, shake hands appropriately, maintain effective eye contact and body language, respond thoughtfully to interview questions, ask appropriate questions of the interviewer, and write and use professional follow-up communication. Through my English, Journalism, and Public Speaking teaching, I have also spent many years helping students organize their thoughts, communicate clearly and confidently, speak appropriately for different audiences, and present themselves effectively in academic and professional settings. This combination of formal education, professional teaching experience, curriculum development, and direct instruction in interviewing provides a strong foundation for helping students prepare for interviews.

Personal Statements

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English and a BA in English and Broadcast Journalism from San Diego State University, as well as an MAEd in Instructional Technology from Brandman University. I am currently in my 29th year teaching high school English, and I taught juniors for nearly 20 years. Many of those students returned to me as seniors for help and guidance with their college application essays and personal statements because they knew me as a teacher who understood their writing, their individual voices, and their strengths. I have also been tutoring since 2017, and college essays and personal statements are among the reasons families frequently seek me out for tutoring. My approach to personal statements is highly individualized and goes well beyond proofreading or correcting grammar. When working with students using the Common App, I begin by helping them examine the available prompts and identify two questions that provide the strongest opportunities to tell their stories. We brainstorm experiences, values, interests, challenges, and personal qualities that could develop into meaningful responses. I then teach students how to recognize the common themes within their ideas so that a strong response can often be adapted thoughtfully to address different application questions rather than starting from scratch each time. I also teach students how to research individual colleges and universities by going directly to each school's website to identify its programs, values, opportunities, and priorities. Students then consider what genuinely appeals to them about that particular school and how their own experiences, interests, goals, and qualities connect with and contribute to the values and community of the institution. Throughout the process, I help students develop a clear structure, compelling details, authentic voice, and thoughtful reflection while ensuring that the final writing remains their own. My goal is to help students communicate not only what they have accomplished, but who they

Public Speaking

I am an experienced public speaking and English teacher with 28 years of classroom experience. I created and taught my district’s public speaking course, and as an English teacher, I guide students in developing presentation skills, which are one of the four ELA standards. I have served on the district committee for the senior graduation project, helping students deliver 8–10 minute presentations, and I also support seniors who need to retake the project to pass. My teaching is structured, supportive, and student-centered, helping students build confidence, clarity, and effective communication skills.

Reading

I have 29 years of professional experience teaching English Language Arts and reading to students in grades 6–12. I hold a BA in English and Broadcast Journalism from San Diego State University, a California Single Subject Teaching Credential in English, and an MAEd in Instructional Technology. Throughout my teaching career, I have taught reading comprehension, close reading, textual analysis, inference, determining main idea and theme, analyzing author's purpose and point of view, evaluating evidence, vocabulary in context, and interpreting literary and informational texts. I have extensive experience helping students move beyond basic comprehension to higher-level analysis and critical thinking. I have taught these skills in English I–III, intervention and support courses, and test preparation, including SAT and ACT English/Reading preparation. My classroom experience includes working with students with a wide range of reading abilities, including students who need explicit instruction and additional scaffolding to become stronger, more confident readers.

SAT Reading

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English and an MAEd in Instructional Technology, with more than 29 years of experience teaching high school English, including more than 20 years teaching 11th grade students. Throughout my career, I have taught students how to analyze complex texts, identify main ideas and supporting evidence, make inferences, understand vocabulary in context, and evaluate an author’s purpose and reasoning. These are foundational skills students need for success on the SAT Reading and Writing section. I teach students how to break down questions, recognize what the test is asking, use evidence strategically, and approach challenging passages with greater confidence and efficiency.

Vocabulary

I hold a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English and an MAEd in Instructional Technology, with more than 29 years of experience teaching English. I was educated in vocabulary development through the study of prefixes, suffixes, and roots, and I continue to use these strategies in my own teaching. I understand how prefixes and roots contribute to word meaning and how suffixes can help students identify a word’s part of speech and meaning. I explicitly teach my students to break unfamiliar words into their meaningful parts so they can determine meaning, recognize patterns, and build vocabulary independently. My approach gives students practical strategies they can apply when encountering unfamiliar words in reading and writing.