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GWU Grad for SAT, ACT Test Prep, English, Reading, Writing
Colleen O.

5.0 (1,070 ratings)

4,260 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee
Hourly Rate: $135
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Response time: 37 minutes

About Colleen

Bio

Hi! I'm Colleen. I graduated cum laude in the English honors program from the University at Buffalo. I also have a masters degree from the George Washington University where I won an excellence award for my master's thesis and was a graduate teaching assistant. I have three years experience working as an English tutor (for both native and non-native speakers) and teaching writing at the community college, high school and middle school level. Moreover, I have worked with children and...

Hi! I'm Colleen. I graduated cum laude in the English honors program from the University at Buffalo. I also have a masters degree from the George Washington University where I won an excellence award for my master's thesis and was a graduate teaching assistant. I have three years experience working as an English tutor (for both native and non-native speakers) and teaching writing at the community college, high school and middle school level. Moreover, I have worked with children and adolescents who have behavioral and/or developmental challenges (such as Autism Spectrum Disorder) and thus, I am sensitive to their sensory needs and will adapt the tutoring sessions to accommodate their challenges. In addition, I have spent several years working as a health planner which required me to be responsible for writing and maintaining 25 different emergency response plans for an entire health district. Thus, I have a great deal of experience writing, reading, proofreading and public speaking in both the academic and real worlds.

I tutor SAT reading, writing, language and essay test preparation, ACT English and reading as well as TOEFL test preparation. I love helping students to perfect the skills and knowledge needed to do well on these tests. Moreover, I am excellent at helping students to stay focused and motivated to study and at effectively reducing the anxiety many individuals have associated with taking standardized tests.

The one-on-one instruction and encouragement that I provide not only imparts the technical knowledge and skills you need to succeed, but also helps you to develop the self-confidence to approach any assignment on your own. I encourage my students to think critically and will teach you how to use your strengths to their fullest extent while also identifying and improving your areas of challenge.

I provide continuous, positive feedback and ensure that the time we spend together is of high value. I am very patient and will take the time to listen, build a rapport with you and find t

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Education

University at Buffalo
English Honors Program
The George Washington University
Masters

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $135
  • Rate details: CANCELLATIONS REQUIRE 24 HOURS NOTICE. A fee of $45 (plus Wyzant's 9% service fee) will be charged for cancellations without 24 hrs. notice.
  • Lesson cancellation: 24 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 12/29/2016

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

Schedule

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Approved Subjects

English

English

I have a cum laude honors degree in English and also have three years tutoring English, writing and reading for all ages. I am patient, thorough and dependable and love working with students one- on- one.
Proofreading

Proofreading

I very much enjoy teaching students how to proofread and perfect their papers. I teach individuals how to carefully read and re-read their work for errors by having them check spelling, grammar and punctuation; I direct them to circle each punctuation mark and make sure that they understand the purpose of each one. In addition, I show students how to evaluate their writing for content, style, clarity and overall structure. I also help them to achieve accuracy in their citations (if their papers require them) through consulting reference manuals such as MLA, APA. Turabian, The Elements of Style, The Chicago Manual of Style and others.
Public Speaking

Public Speaking

Throughout my undergraduate and graduate academic career I have presented many research papers (including my master's thesis for which I won an award of excellence) as well as taught biology and bio-statistics laboratory classes. All of those situations required me to develop outstanding public speaking and oral presentation skills. In addition, my work as a public health emergency planner in the National Capital Region routinely required me to speak to large audiences consisting of health department staff, police, fire, EMS, television reporters and other governmental agencies often on short notice. Furthermore, because public speaking is essentially a performance art, I took an acting class at George Washington University to help me to improve my presence as well as to sharpen my oral communication skills.
Reading

Reading

I have experience working with children who have developmental challenges in the areas of reading, writing and spelling. I am very patient and understand how to build a rapport with a child in order to make learning to read and spell an enjoyable activity instead of a source of anxiety.
SAT Reading

SAT Reading

I have helped several students improve their reading comprehension, language and writing skills as well as their test taking techniques and overall confidence. My most recent student took the June 2, 2018 SAT with extra time to check all of her work in the verbal section and is awaiting her scores with confidence that she achieved her target score.
SAT Writing

SAT Writing

I am certified to tutor SAT reading and writing and am currently helping another student prepare for the August SAT exam.
Vocabulary

Vocabulary

I use various methods of teaching vocabulary when I tutor and I tailor each session to the individual's specific needs. For example, I may use context clues, multiple meanings of words, teaching word roots and decoding skills to teach vocabulary to some students. For others, I may play games, such as "Word Scramble" or "Hangman" while discussing the meaning of the words and conduct structured conversations about challenging and essential vocabulary terms in addition to the methods mentioned above. Furthermore, as I get to know the student's learning style and understand how he/she learns, I may also use songs, music, real life objects, puzzles, etc. - whatever works to make learning vocabulary enjoyable and effective for the student.
Writing

Writing

I believe that ALL students can improve their writing and learn to communicate with precision and clarity. When I tutor an individual in writing, I not only teach the basic components of writing such as syntax, spelling, grammar, tone, word choice, overall structure and organization, but I am also sensitive to his/her cultural background and learning style. Consequently, I create assignments and exercises that are of interest to the student and will help to motivate him/her to practice writing. Moreover, I teach writing as a process - one that requires patience and commitment. I also help students connect reading with writing; that is, I illustrate to them how to read literature, newspapers and articles for strategies and argument structure as well as for content, tone and themes. I explain to them how reading critically and reading more often will improve their writing.
ACT English
ACT Reading
Grammar
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Response time: 37 minutes

Ratings and Reviews

Rating

5.0 (1,070 ratings)
5 star
(1,061)
4 star
(9)
3 star
(0)
2 star
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1 star
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Reviews

Outstanding Tutor in Every Way

5 out of 5 stars is not enough! We hired Colleen to help our daughter prepare for the SAT, after reading dozens of 5-star reviews about her. Colleen has now worked with our daughter for almost two years and the experience has been in every way, outstanding. Not only does Colleen really know her stuff, she also has a wonderful way of communicating and teaching. Our child has a 504 plan in school due to a learning disability, and Colleen was fantastic in helping her to work through her learning obstacles and achieve an excellent SAT score that we were not sure would be possible. Our daughter was just accepted into her top-choice school and we have no doubt that without Colleen's help, that would not have been possible. In addition to SAT prep, Colleen has also helped our child with school writing assignments and she is an excellent writing teacher as well. We have hired over a dozen tutors in the last 15 years for my children (both with learning disabilities,) and Colleen is by far the best tutor we have ever had. Besides being extremely knowledgeable about her field and skilled in how to teach, she goes out of her way to squeeze in sessions with us when we desperately need them, and she has shown real kindness and caring to my daughter which we so appreciate. Colleen has a wonderful personality and our daughter truly enjoys her sessions with her, not something you would necessarily find with teenagers and tutor sessions. Thank you so much, Colleen!!

Stacey, 85 lessons with Colleen

Amazing Teacher

Colleen is just what our 15-year-old needed. She is teaching him AP English. She is encouraging, teaching him with patience and he finally feels great about English.

Melissa, 33 lessons with Colleen

great

Colleen was very helpful and knowledgeable. She help my son and he said he learned a lot from her. She do have good experience how to help with SAT students. I'm planning to use her again soon.

Sheila, 9 lessons with Colleen

Patient and dedicated tutor

Colleen has been tutoring two of my daughters to prepare for the verbal section of the SAT. Colleen’s methods have proven successful and she has a very gentile style yet very effective.

Michael, 104 lessons with Colleen

Excellent tutor

Colleen has been helping with my daughter's writing since her 9th grade. She is an excellent instructor. My daughter felt struggled to express all her complicated thought. Colleen guided her through the process to make her understand the best way to express herself and deliver the message. She is very patient and caring. She would have private conversation with me when she sees some concerns with my daughter, even these are nothing to do with writing itself. I can see my daughter's writing improved a lot with a great passion. My daughter always feel comfortable to share with Colleen her thoughts and her writing. Highly recommended.

Zhengyan, 84 lessons with Colleen

The best tutor on Wyzant, hands down.

I went through five tutors on Wyzant and had an awful experience with each and every one of them. I was very close in giving up and deleting my account. That was until I found Colleen. Colleen is extremely supportive. She is honest, kind, patient and funny and will work with you every step of the way to get past whatever it is that is blocking you from your goal. Colleen is a rarity. Tutors on here should really take a page from Colleen's book. It's such a nice breath of fresh air to have a tutor who really cares about both you and project and not your wallet. Colleen also doesn't eat up your time like the previous tutors have done. I am extremely blessed and grateful to have found her. My only disappointment is not meeting Colleen sooner.

Kevin, 7 lessons with Colleen

Colleen is exceptional

We have been working with her for a few years. We started with our daughter and now our son has just started with Colleen. She is patient and truly a wonderful teacher.

Lori, 35 lessons with Colleen

Highly knowledgeable and gifted tutor!

Colleen is a very talented and gifted tutor. She understands the weaknesses and strengths of students she works with and brings out the best without overimposing or overteaching. She is extremely patient to progress the lesson to make sure that the key learning points are well understood. She is very thoughtful and every minute of her lesson has been helpful.

Spencer, 2 lessons with Colleen

Encouraging and engaging

We are very glad we connected with Colleen, she has good advice and my son enjoyed the session very much. We will definitely continue to work with Colleen to strengthen my son's writing for personal statement and college essay.

Yukki, 1 lesson with Colleen

Review of Colleen O.

Colleen has been working with my son to improve his writing skills for about two years. They have read a number of classic novels together and she introduced SAT vocabulary practice into their lessons. I hadn't specifically considered SAT prep for my son, but Colleen felt that with some work he could get an impressive score, and it would help with his overall writing skills. Boy was she right! My son scored 1420 his first time taking the SAT, which will be his last time since he's not a test-lover! He is thrilled with this score, which will look great on his college applications. His writing has come so far since they began working together; he trusts her guidance and feedback and truly looks forward to their lessons. She will continue to work with him through AP Language Arts and college essays. We feel so lucky to have found Colleen O.!

Kit, 118 lessons with Colleen
Hourly Rate: $135
Response time: 37 minutes
Contact Colleen