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Experienced Science Teacher & Published Writer - Individualized - Warm
Stephanie Jo B.

5.0 (2 ratings)

2 hours tutoring

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Hourly Rate: $45
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About Stephanie Jo

Bio

I'm a semi-retired classroom teacher with over thirty years of experience who has discovered a talent for online tutoring. I graduated from college in Virginia with a BS in Art, a minor in Biology, and a K-12 teaching certificate. After several years teaching interdisciplinary high school Art and growing patience while homeschooling my own son with ADHD, I returned to the public school classroom in Arizona for five years as a certified middle and high school Biology and Earth Science teacher....

I'm a semi-retired classroom teacher with over thirty years of experience who has discovered a talent for online tutoring. I graduated from college in Virginia with a BS in Art, a minor in Biology, and a K-12 teaching certificate. After several years teaching interdisciplinary high school Art and growing patience while homeschooling my own son with ADHD, I returned to the public school classroom in Arizona for five years as a certified middle and high school Biology and Earth Science teacher. When a wider world called, I joined an international nonprofit as their educational director. I spent a decade leading adults and kids in real conservation science in forests and oceans in Ecuador, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Barbuda. That work led to a grant to design, write, and implement the NGSS-based Biodiversity PEEK STEAM curricula, found online. Those experiences, plus eight years writing and doing science aboard a sailboat in Mexico, gave me a second language, the perspective to work with people from widely diverse cultures and backgrounds, and the empathy to support ESL students.

I began online tutoring in September 2025 and discovered the deep satisfaction of working one-on-one with students. My approach is to set students at ease — reassuring them that what we call "mistakes" are simply events that open us to learning. I encourage my clients to make new and illuminating mistakes, whether they are kids in 5th–10th grade science, adult creative and essay writers, students of Art and Art History, or learners wrestling with the rich complexities of American Literature. I learn what makes each student light up and use that to create individualized lessons that captivate. Sometimes that means playing basketball to learn chemistry, digging up Irish folktales to find evidence for plate tectonics, designing and building water features to attract birds to a home in a difficult neighborhood, or leaning into my native Southern accent to bring Faulkner alive for a Mexican-American student struggling to graduate high school.

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Education

James Madison University
Art

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $45
  • Rate details: I'm happy to work with you on an affordable small group rate or multiple hour lessons - Just ask!
  • Lesson cancellation: 24 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 5/29/2026

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

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Approved Subjects

Art History

Art History

I graduated cum laude with a BS in Art with extensive coursework in Art History, which I studied with genuine passion and in which I excelled — because Art History was the subject that made world history come alive for me for the first time. I taught Art History and Art Appreciation extensively throughout my K-12 art teaching career in Virginia and Arizona, bringing context, cultural connection, and visual storytelling to students who had never thought of themselves as art history lovers. Whether you need to understand the culturally shocking power of Manet for an AP exam, or are preparing school children to consider Watson and the Shark's anatomical weirdness on their Smithsonian field trip, I can help you grasp how, over the ages and across cultures, life has shaped art and how in turn art has shaped life.
Biology

Biology

I am a semi-retired K–12 certified Biology teacher who has spent years learning this subject the way it was meant to be learned — in the field. I have lived aboard a sailboat conducting biodiversity research along the coasts of Mexico, worked with scientists in Ecuador, Vietnam, and the Caribbean, and designed the Biodiversity PEEK STEAM Curriculum — an NGSS-aligned program now used by teachers and families internationally. In the classroom and one-on-one, I specialize in making Biology tangible and alive for middle school and early high school students, with particular strength in ecology, biodiversity, genetics, cell theory, and natural selection/evolution. I have a special gift for hands-on learners, ADHD students, and ESL students — and I believe the best Biology lesson is one that reveals how you are an integral part of this living planet.
Creative Writing

Creative Writing

I am a semi-retired K–12 teacher, a published writer, and the creator of an internationally used STEAM curriculum — which means I bring science, art, nature, culture, and storytelling into writing instruction the way other teachers bring textbooks. My students have written personal essays rooted in the meaning of their own names, braided Arabic poetry with the mathematics of honeycombs, and discovered that Faulkner's most tangled sentences have something true to say about their own lives. I work comfortably across creative nonfiction, personal narrative, essay writing, and nature writing, and I have a particular gift for helping students who struggle with complex texts find their own powerful written voice. Whether your student needs to unlock a first draft, deepen their ideas, or learn to write sentences that actually sing — I meet every writer exactly where they are
Drawing

Drawing

I am a semi-retired K–12 certified art teacher, a working illustrator, and a field artist whose sketchbook has traveled from the Sea of Cortez to Vietnam to New Zealand — which means I teach drawing as a way of moving through the world with open eyes and mind. My core belief is that learning to draw is really about learning to truly see something for the first time, as if it has never existed before . I also believe that every student's limitations are the secret door to their unique style — the wobble in a line, the way a hand naturally moves, the subjects that make someone lean forward — these are not problems to fix but a personality waiting to be set free. Whether your student is a complete beginner or someone who has been told they cannot draw, I will meet them exactly where their hand and eye meet the paper and help them find what only they can create.
Earth Science

Earth Science

I am a semi-retired K–12 certified Earth Science teacher who has spent years learning this subject the way it was meant to be learned — in the field. I have lived aboard a sailboat conducting biodiversity research along the coasts of Mexico, worked with scientists in Ecuador, Vietnam, and the Caribbean, and designed the Biodiversity PEEK STEAM Curriculum — an NGSS-aligned program now used by teachers and families internationally. In the classroom and one-on-one, I specialize in making Earth Science tangible and alive for middle school and early high school students, with particular strength in ecology, biodiversity, earth systems, and the endlessly fascinating motion of planets, moons, and the wider universe beyond our atmosphere. I have a special gift for hands-on learners, ADHD students, and ESL students — and I believe the best Earth Science lesson is one that connects the world under your feet to the sky above your head and everything in between.
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

As a semi-retired K-12 teacher with a BS in Art and a minor in Biology, and teaching certifications in both Art and Biology/Earth Science, I bring thirty years of interdisciplinary classroom experience to every essay writing session — which means I understand not just how to write but how to teach writing to students at every level and stage. I am a published writer of creative nonfiction essays that braid humorous and true storytelling with biology and philosophy, and my most recent work appears on Substack as The Menopausal Mermaid, where my readership is rapidly growing. I have a special talent for giving detailed and specific constructive criticism, helping students find strength in their weak spots, and guiding writers to uncover their own unique voice and perspective. Whether you are wrestling with a college application essay, a magazine submission, or a class assignment — like facing down an entire semester of makeup work like the ESL student I recently helped go from an F to a passing grade — I will help you find the argument, the angle, and the voice that is unmistakably and powerfully yours.
Fiction Writing

Fiction Writing

I am a published writer and illustrator of children's books and adult creative nonfiction, which means I bring real writerly instincts — not just teaching theory — to every session. As a semi-retired interdisciplinary teacher with three decades of experience, I know how to help students employ both their strengths and limitations to give authentic voices and perspectives to their characters. I have an artist's ability to find the hidden and fascinating connections between seemingly unrelated ideas — the kind of unexpected link that makes a story suddenly come alive and surprise even the writer who wrote it. Whether you are writing a graphic novel, short story, or screenplay, I will help you dig deep to reveal your story's hidden soul — questioning pacing, weeding out lazy words, and asking the tough questions that make a story consistent, alive, and unmistakably yours.
Literature

Literature

I am a cum laude graduate with a BS in Art, a semi-retired interdisciplinary K-12 teacher, and a published writer with over thirty years of experience bringing American and English Literature alive for students from middle school through adulthood. My most meaningful recent experience has been tutoring a struggling ESL student who faced what seemed an impossible task — making up an entire junior semester of American Literature reading comprehension and writing assignments without the cultural background most students take for granted. Working one-on-one, session by session, I built the cultural and historical bridges she needed to access texts by Zora Neale Hurston, William Faulkner, and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston on her own terms — and she passed. That experience crystallized what I believe: that great literature is not gatekept by background or birthplace, and that every student deserves a teacher who can help open it for them specifically.
Public Speaking

Public Speaking

As a K-12 certified teacher with a BS in Art and Biology, and as outreach director and program leader for several international nonprofits — including The Biodiversity Group, New Zealand's Travelling Tuna Tapestry, Biodiversity PEEK, and Triplefin Expeditions — I have given presentations to audiences ranging from curious schoolchildren to foreign dignitaries across four continents. I know how it feels to be nervous — make that terrified. Before giving a speech on the steps of New Zealand's Parliament on behalf of an endangered freshwater eel, I hid in a port-a-potty until the last possible second, then delivered a speech that led to a surprise invitation to speak during a full parliamentary session. What I discovered over that decade of public speaking is exactly what I can help you do: channel your anxiety into energy, trust yourself, and tell the story that only you can tell.
Writing

Writing

I am a semi-retired classroom educator with a diverse range of writing and teaching experiences — from publishing and illustrating my own children's book to creating the Biodiversity PEEK STEAM curricula and writing web content, newsletters, and grants for an international nonprofit. I can help you trust your own voice instead of defaulting to AI, write with clarity instead of clutter, organize your thoughts and ideas, and discover the exciting connections hiding inside your own writing. I have been an online writing tutor for the past year, and in that role I have helped a business ensure its website speaks to the human beings it is meant to attract, guided a failing ESL high school junior through the writing requirements of her entire English Literature class until she passed, and helped a sixth grade writer discover the real-life hero's journey of his great-grandfather during the tumultuous Partition of India. Whether you are a student or professional I give detailed, insightful feedback that will bring out your best writing.
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Ratings and Reviews

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Reviews

Just what I needed!

Jo is incredibly insightful, efficient, and easy to work with on the writing of my new business website. She spent time getting to know me and my business model and spotted all the places (down to details like an incorrect address) that contained inaccuracies, vague wording, and phrases that sounded like the AI I used for the first draft. She not only helped the site sound more human, but more like me. She pressed me with important questions from the perspective of a potential client without sounding judgmental. Jo offered practical, creative solutions. She also used her natural, artistic eye to give feedback and suggestions on photo choices, font, and layout. I plan to continue working with Jo because, after just one session, I can already see and feel a difference in my writing. I highly recommend her as a tutor. She is warm and funny yet serious and smart and gives very detailed feedback.

Paul, 2 lessons with Stephanie Jo
Hourly Rate: $45
Contact Stephanie Jo