My story starts when I got into The College of Staten Island right out of high school. My Eng 111 professor noticed I had a knack for grammar and writing so he recommended me for a job at the campus tutoring center. That’s when I met Bob B., the best supervisor anyone could ask for. He was a longtime mentor to me for 16 years. With his guidance, I went from an okay tutor to a great one.
After I began taking Graduate classes, I started teaching English at the college level (specifically...
My story starts when I got into The College of Staten Island right out of high school. My Eng 111 professor noticed I had a knack for grammar and writing so he recommended me for a job at the campus tutoring center. That’s when I met Bob B., the best supervisor anyone could ask for. He was a longtime mentor to me for 16 years. With his guidance, I went from an okay tutor to a great one.
After I began taking Graduate classes, I started teaching English at the college level (specifically Eng 111 and 151). However, my methods sometimes grated against the college bureaucracies because all too often, I put the students first. For example, I was adamant about giving students unlimited rewrites for essays. I thought it would be a disservice to students if I failed their essays after only 2 drafts before they could understand how to improve. So if a student had the determination to keep working, I would match them. If a student was satisfied with a B+ after 4 drafts, fine. But if a student wanted to hammer their way through 8 drafts until they earned their A, I was there with them the whole way. I would also adapt a curriculum to the needs of students. If they arrived to my class not understanding how to think critically, I would devote extra time to bolster that skill in them.
But my story at CSI is over for the moment. After Bob passed away in late 2023, I couldn’t bear to keep working at the college. It felt hollower now without him. He was a paragon for education. And without him there, fighting for students, I had lost faith that the center would be able to survive the bureaucracy. So I stepped away to explore other paths in life.
For my Master’s in English lit, I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.9 GPA from CSI. My skillset revolves around grammar, analysis, research, and essay and creative writing. (I’ve also self-published 38 novels.)
Now, I’m setting forth on my own to keep Bob’s ideals alive. I’m here to see if Wyzant is a place where I’ll have the freedom to put the students first. As he would.
