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Patient and Enthusiastic English and Writing Tutor
Dana G.

5.0 (79 ratings)

272 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee
Hourly Rate: $140
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Response time: 58 minutes

About Dana

Bio

Hi! I’m Dana, and I graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2024. My passion for language led me to get a BA with departmental honors in both Creative Writing and Classical Languages. I have been supporting other writers since high school: I have tutored English with the National Honor Society, served as a TA for literature classes, and founded creative writing groups. In these roles, I have worked with students to analyze prose and poetry, plan and polish essays, prepare for...

Hi! I’m Dana, and I graduated magna cum laude from Hamilton College in 2024. My passion for language led me to get a BA with departmental honors in both Creative Writing and Classical Languages. I have been supporting other writers since high school: I have tutored English with the National Honor Society, served as a TA for literature classes, and founded creative writing groups. In these roles, I have worked with students to analyze prose and poetry, plan and polish essays, prepare for tests, and workshop creative projects. For full details of my academic career, including the milestones I achieved and can help guide you toward, please read my subject qualifications!

I have several years of professional and volunteer experience tutoring AP Literature, AP Language, SAT ELA, textual analysis, and creative writing, and have provided extensive proofreading services. I aim to help students understand the building blocks of the English language, not just memorize test questions, and develop skills with broad, ongoing applications. I firmly believe that a solid comprehension of grammar is the foundation for both effective reading and beautiful writing, so I have practiced methods of making it intuitive and approachable. A typical session will include the use of practice problems or writing samples to identify and address problem areas. I strive to provide conversational sessions that help students feel comfortable with difficult readings, passionate about their writing, and confident going into tests.

Please be aware that, while I am excited to work with you, I do have a full-time job and am unavailable on weekdays. I do not offer free consultation meetings, though I am happy to answer questions by message, set aside time to speak with a guardian during our first lesson, or schedule a shorter first lesson as a trial. Though I have never yet had a student use it, your first hour is protected by Wyzant’s Good Fit Guarantee!

Please feel free to message with any questions. I look forward to hearing from you!

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Education

Hamilton College
Creative Writing

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $140
  • Rate details: Reading and note-taking for student writing: half-rate. Reading published literature: quarter-rate. Late cancellation with reschedule same weekend: half-rate.
  • Lesson cancellation: 4 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 10/7/2024

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

Schedule

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Approved Subjects

Classics

Classics

I graduated with multiple honors and awards in Classics from Hamilton College. I primarily studied the Latin and Ancient Greek languages, with additional coursework in Greek mythology, Greek economics, early Christianity, and pre-Classical cities. Along the way, I received the Winslow Prize in Latin and the Chauncey S. Truax Prize Scholarship in Greek, both awarded to the student with the highest achievement in each language in their year. In my senior year, I was also inducted into Eta Sigma Phi, the honor society for Classics, and completed an honors thesis, which explored the reciprocal influences of fifteenth-century printing technology and the physical form of the Greek script.
Creative Writing

Creative Writing

Creative writing has always been my passion. I hold a BA with Honors in Creative Writing from Hamilton College; I was my high school’s first poet laureate and have had multiple poems published in magazines. I would not have thought to pursue it as anything more than a hobby, though, without the influence of one particularly inspiring teacher; now, I aim to pass her gift along to other passionate students looking to hone their skills. I have helped brainstorm and edit two published novels, guided students to poetry and essay awards and publications of their own, and run workshops for like-minded peers. I am always happy to help with any stage of the process, from brainstorming ideas to fleshing out characters to making final edits for continuity and tone. While I specialize in short- and long-form fiction and metered poetry, I have also enthusiastically supported students and peers with creative nonfiction, biographical writing, playwriting, free verse poetry, and compositions that defy categorization altogether. All that matters is the student’s passion, because it’s their voice that I strive to help shine through!
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

Despite always loving writing, I never liked writing essays in school, in part because the prompts and guidelines could often seem vague and contradictory. Writing without a clear sense of purpose often seems like running in place toward an arbitrary word count, which is why I now specialize in helping students understand the spirit, not merely the letter, of each prompt. Different teachers often have different language for the same goals, and I am here to help students understand not only what their teachers mean but why those techniques are foundational to clear, cohesive writing. My fundamental goal is to help every student make each essay their own, and, hopefully, find some enjoyment and useful life skills in the process. I am happy to teach any level of essay writing, from a single well-organized paragraph to a clearly defensible dissertation. While I most commonly tutor argumentative or persuasive writing, applications, and analytical pieces, I am always glad to work with students on other essay types as well. I also tutor related skills, like strategies for timed writing an exams (including AP Language and Composition) and reading critically for evidence.
Fiction Writing

Fiction Writing

I have been writing stories for fun since the age of two, and started pursuing it in earnest in high school, where I founded a creative writing club to help my peers refine their craft as I improved my own. In college, I earned Honors on my BA in Creative Writing with the first 120 pages of a novel on which I am still working, and have helped two peers publish their own novels. I possess the rare combination of extensive formal coursework and even more extensive practice before formalizing my education, meaning that I remember what it is like to write from instinct alone and can meet students wherever they are, regardless of their background. I am happy to help with any step of the writing process, from brainstorming concepts to in-the-weeds worldbuilding to editing for continuity and plotholes. My goal is to help your story become the best version of what you want it to be, not to take it over myself, and years of peer support have taught me exactly how to do that!
Grammar

Grammar

I offer grammar lessons on three levels of daily relevance. My primary curriculum consists of four lessons of grammatical fundamentals, starting on the granular level and then building upon the skills we’ve developed; those lessons center on (1) parts of speech, (2) clauses, (3) punctuation, and (4) sentences. Each primary lesson is intended to fit within a one-hour session, and while students are encouraged to progress through all four, I am happy to skip straight to any one of them. For students who would like to explore specific parts of speech in greater detail, I also offer four secondary lessons; in no particular order, they are: (a) verbs, (b) nouns and pronouns, (c) adjectives vs. adverbs, and (d) prepositions vs. conjunctions. These vary much more in length: it is difficult to discuss a verb’s tense, voice, mood, person, number, aspect, and polarity within 60 minutes! For students with even more specific needs, I also offer two tertiary lessons: (a) modifiers and determiners, terms that only some institutions use, and (b) participles, infinitives, substantives, and gerunds, which exist as hybrids between multiple parts of speech and can get confusing! I developed my passion for grammar while studying Latin and Ancient Greek, inflectional languages whose influences explain some of English’s quirks, like the difference between “I” and “me” or “who” and “whom.” I then cemented my understanding by applying my knowledge; I have created a fully functional constructed language and am working on developing two more. I’d love to share that passion and understanding with you!
Literature

Literature

To help students fully understand complex and often archaic texts, I encourage them to practice empathy with the characters: grasping why a character is behaving a certain way is a critical step toward understanding their role in the plot, other characters’ behaviors, the story’s historical context, and even specific opaque sentences. My goal is for students to be able to adapt the thorough comprehension they obtain in our lessons to any essay prompt or test question they might be set with confidence and enthusiasm. This technique led me to a 5 on the AP Literature and Composition exam when I was in 10th grade, and has led most of my students to 4s and 5s as well! You are welcome to use Instant Book for help with AP Literature or a text we’ve previously discussed, but please don’t use it for a first lesson about a new text: I want to make sure that I can help you before you commit to paying me! To book your first lesson, please contact me with the name of the text as soon as possible, and I will let you know if I have read it. If I have not, I am happy to do so for you; I charge 15 minutes for every hour of reading time, which will be added to our lesson. Though I am a fast reader, you are welcome to cap the amount of reading time you would like me to commit to a lesson. I reserve up to a week to fully read long texts, so I encourage you to reach out as early as possible!
Proofreading

Proofreading

I have several years’ experience proofreading fiction, nonfiction, and verse, including two published novels. I am also a letterpress printer, meaning that I have developed the skill of finding typos in text that is tiny, backwards, and the same color as its background. I can read for several aspects of a text, including spelling (American or British English), grammar (across multiple registers), formatting (in several style guides), and content consistency. While I am always happy to adapt meeting formats to your preferences, for texts longer than about 1,000 words, I generally suggest that students submit their work through the chat as early as possible. That way, I can read it and mark it up asynchronously, for which I charge only half-rate (minimum 15-minute charge). Once I have fully combed through your manuscript, we can schedule a meeting, as long or as short as is required, to discuss my suggestions and workshop problem areas.
SAT Reading

SAT Reading

When I was in high school, I scored a 1520 on the SAT (790 ELA/730 Math), and earned a National Merit Scholarship with an NMSQT Selection Index score of 222. I was also a semifinalist for the Connecticut Governor’s Scholars Award. I have been tutoring since then, and my SAT lessons are among my most student-driven. I encourage students to take at least one full-length diagnostic test before our first session in order to ascertain baseline strengths and weaknesses, and most sessions involve the student sharing their screen while using Khan Academy. I offer in-depth explanations not only of correct and incorrect answers, but also of test-taking strategies, with frequent short lessons on specific concepts with which the student struggles. This student-led structure empowers the student to pick up from where we left off whenever they wish to practice on their own, while still providing structure, specific goals, and, where needed, external accountability.
SAT Writing

SAT Writing

When I was in high school, I scored a 1520 on the SAT (790 ELA/730 Math), and earned a National Merit Scholarship with an NMSQT Selection Index score of 222. I was also a semifinalist for the Connecticut Governor’s Scholars Award. I have been tutoring since then, and my SAT lessons are among my most student-driven. I encourage students to take at least one full-length diagnostic test before our first session in order to ascertain baseline strengths and weaknesses, and most sessions involve the student sharing their screen while using Khan Academy. I offer in-depth explanations not only of correct and incorrect answers, but also of test-taking strategies, with frequent short lessons on specific concepts with which the student struggles. This student-led structure empowers the student to pick up from where we left off whenever they wish to practice on their own, while still providing structure, specific goals, and, where needed, external accountability.
Spelling

Spelling

While I am always happy to drill specific spelling lists with students, most of my spelling lessons happen naturally within writing sessions. I train my students not just to memorize words, but to piece them together from their multilingual roots and affixes: most complex words are made of simple pieces, and understanding their patterns improves vocabulary and allows students to spell unfamiliar words on the fly.
Vocabulary

Vocabulary

While I am always happy to drill specific vocabulary lists with students, most of my vocabulary lessons happen naturally within other sessions. I train my students not just to memorize words, but to learn their multilingual etymological roots. Combined with a knowledge of common affixes, this approach allows them to break down unfamiliar words into familiar pieces and reconstruct them into something understandable, whether encountered in a book, on a test, or during a conversation.
English
Reading
Writing
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Response time: 58 minutes

Ratings and Reviews

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5.0 (79 ratings)
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Reviews

Knowledgeable and patient

I’m glad that I found Dana to tutor my son’s SAT English, she is knowledgeable and patient, she also focus on his weaknesses. We look forward ti have more lessons with Dana.

Pui Kei , 9 lessons with Dana

knowledgeable, organized, prepared

Dana came prepared and provided the exact tutoring needed. She has experience and the technique to make the session worthwhile. Will definitely use Dana as our regular tutor.

Ian, 1 lesson with Dana

Great lesson

Dana, Was well prepared and helped my daughter with her paper. She reviewed the paper in advance and made some excellent suggestions.

Frank, 1 lesson with Dana

amazing

She is a wonderful tutor even today was last minute and she was able to help my son . I really appreciate her help.

Diana, 4 lessons with Dana

Great teacher!

We found a right and knowledgeable teacher for our son’s English lesson! She listened well and initiated approach to move forward with his studies at the school. So we exactly wanted someone who can help him to improve his school grade via thoughtful learning!

Sujeewa, 6 lessons with Dana

Knowledgeable and helpful tutor!

Thank you Dana for helping my son before a paper. His teacher really wasn't providing any feedback in class so it was helpful to get your guidance and perspective! Thank you for helping him on such short notice!

Anna, 1 lesson with Dana
Hourly Rate: $140
Response time: 58 minutes
Contact Dana