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M.F.A. from Iowa Writers' Workshop for Personal Statement, Essays, SAT
Joanna G.

5.0 (6 ratings)

17 hours tutoring

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Hourly Rate: $45
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Response time: 1 hour

About Joanna

Bio

Hi! I'm Joanna. I have more than 25 years of experience teaching students of all ages, with expertise in helping students craft insightful, beautifully structured personal statements and essays. I also have a great deal of experience helping neurodiverse students in elementary, middle, and high school (including those with dyslexia, ADHD, and level 1 autism) with reading comprehension and inferencing. Other focus areas include the SAT Reading and Writing sections and the ACT English/Reading...

Hi! I'm Joanna. I have more than 25 years of experience teaching students of all ages, with expertise in helping students craft insightful, beautifully structured personal statements and essays. I also have a great deal of experience helping neurodiverse students in elementary, middle, and high school (including those with dyslexia, ADHD, and level 1 autism) with reading comprehension and inferencing. Other focus areas include the SAT Reading and Writing sections and the ACT English/Reading sections.

A creative writer, I bring authentic, deep knowledge of the elements of writing (such as characterization, voice, structure, imagery, and interiority) to personal statement writing for college and graduate school admissions. I earned my M.F.A. in creative writing and English from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where I also won the University’s Outstanding Teaching Assistantship Award and started publishing in nationally renowned journals. I’m a winner of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Writing, a recipient of the Iowa Book Prize, and a former professor of writing at Penn State and Franklin & Marshall College. Before going full time, I worked as an adjunct professor at the City University of New York and as a visiting writer in schools and community centers.

By tailoring instruction to individual needs, I foster confidence and help ensure that young people enjoy the experience of reading and writing while enjoying the process and exceeding expectations.

My students are knocking it out of the park! Let's chat about your needs and hopes for tutoring.

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Education

Hampshire College
World Literature and Creative Writing
Iowa Writers' Workshop, University of Iowa, Creative Writing
Masters
Radcliffe Publishing Program
Other

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $45
  • Rate details: $150/hour for graduate and college admissions (statements and essays). Sliding scale available.
  • Lesson cancellation: 2 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 5/15/2025

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

Schedule

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Approved Subjects

ACT Reading

ACT Reading

Can it be fun to learn the skills and tips that will help you ace the ACT Reading section. Yes! I've been helping my private students achieve top scores for years; my techniques are individually tailored, but even more important when it comes to standardized testing, they encourage interest. And interest leads people to be able to apply newly gained skills--to every question.
Common Core

Common Core

My advanced degree and 15+ years of teaching literature and writing have provided me with expertise in all of the ELA standards, and I've successfully helped many students score "advanced" on the 11th-grade state Literature exam. My tutoring equips elementary, middle, and high school students with the close reading and analytical skills required by the common core, including observing and extracting key information from texts, engaging deeply with literature, providing textual evidence to support points, and crafting analytical writing that demonstrates critical thinking and insight.
Creative Writing

Creative Writing

I'm a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and an award-winning writer with an extensive teaching background in creative writing and English. I help my students trust the process of writing to lead to unexpected places and unexpected knowledge--insights they have but that could only be revealed through the act of writing itself. By prizing language and originality, my students learn to release their experience of the world and, in later drafts, shape it by using techniquest I share with them. In later drafts, craft comes into play, but starting out is always a matter of letting the imagination take control. Some of my former students boast achievements such as acceptance to the highly competitive Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets (a renowned summer poetry program) and NYU's esteemed graduate creative writing program. "Joanna inspires her students to tap into a part of themselves they otherwise might not know they have.," said a former student of mine. My own successes include awards such as the Iowa Book Prize for my first collection of poetry, a fellowship in creative writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Nation magazine's Discovery/92nd Street Y Poetry Prize, and more. I tutor in multiple genres, including poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and playwriting.
English

English

With a background as an English professor and award-winning writer, I bring a love of literature, writing of all kinds, and even grammar (I can explain all the whys behind the rules, and make it fun) to tutoring students who need help in English courses.
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

I bring more than 20 years of experience teaching essay-writing skills to students in 8th grade through graduate school. Tutorials cover the following: brainstorming an arguable and manageable topic, crafting a clear thesis statement, writing organized body paragraphs that begin with a topic and provide strong evidence for that topic, and reinforcing the argument in a conclusion that stretches further than restatement. Since essays often need to be written independently and within a timed period, I make sure my students learn and get comfortable with the prewriting process (which saves time); I also use graphic organizers to demonstrate paragraph/essay development. Finally, I review essential grammar and punctuation rules, and help students gain fluency in those rules through tailored, fun exercises. I earned my M.F.A. in creative writing and English from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Fiction Writing

Fiction Writing

Ever since graduating from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the oldest and one of the most respected graduate M.F.A. programs in creative writing, I've been teaching the craft. At Franklin & Marshall and Penn State, where I worked as an assistant professor of English and creative writing, I taught introductory as well advanced fiction writing--a course in which students wrote thesis-length pieces (short stories or novels/parts of a novel), a graduation requirement. I've also taught fiction writing to adults.
Grammar

Grammar

I've taught courses focused only on grammar. I know the rules, know why the rules work (it's very cool to know why), and make them a lot of fun to learn. Nope, commas don't just get placed where they sound right. But sometimes they work like wings. I'll show you why.
Literature

Literature

With an undergraduate degree in literary studies, an advanced degree in English and Creative Writing from the renowned Iowa Writers' Workshop, and over 20 years of experience teaching students of all ages to think critically about world literature, I bring expertise and passion to tutoring individuals in interpretation of literature.
Personal Statements

Personal Statements

I am a former professor of creative writing and published author who can help you write a stand-out, honest, authentic and engaging personal essay that employs the narrative techniques admissions counselors look for, such as characterization, point of view, and meaningful insight and reflection. I also know what admissions counselors look for in the essay and will help you avoid common missteps. The personal essay functions like an interview. Admissions counselors rely on it to get to know you beyond a letter grade and test scores. For some people, it will be the most important part of the application - the material on which getting in or not depends. Scholarships can depend on it, too. Your life and perspective have more value here than anywhere else in the application.
SAT Reading

SAT Reading

Can it be fun to learn the skills and tips that will help you ace the SAT Reading section. Yes! I've been helping my private students achieve top scores for years; my techniques are tailored to each individual, but even more important when it comes to standardized testing, they encourage interest. And interest leads people to be able to apply newly gained skills--to every question type.
SAT Writing

SAT Writing

To ace the SAT Writing section, you need to know the rules of grammar - as an official nerd, I'm an expert in all of them and also love teaching them. You may end up loving the rules, too, since they actually make sense and aren't random. You also need to be able to understand the paragraph in which the sentence you have to correct or finish appears. In other words, understanding context--the sentences that come before and after the one in question--matters. I help you read quickly and closely so that you can answer right away, without stress.
Writing

Writing

My career has included teaching courses in essay writing, creative writing, writing about literature, and writing skills. I've also worked as a professional writer - most recently, as a copywriter and content writer, where I created marketing materials such as brochures, guides, social media and website copy, posters, and much more.
ACT English
Phonics
Proofreading
Reading
Spelling
Vocabulary

Examples of Expertise

Joanna has provided examples of their subject expertise by answering 7 questions submitted by students on Wyzant’s Ask an Expert.

See all of Joanna ’s answers ›
Joanna G.'s Photo

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Response time: 1 hour

Ratings and Reviews

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Reviews

Patient and Supportive Tutor

Working with Joanna G. has been such a wonderful experience for my son and for us. From the very beginning, she has been patient, supportive, creating a comfortable space for my son to share his thoughts and ideas openly. Joanna didn’t just edit essays—she took the time to really get to know him, to understand his strengths, his passions, and the unique experiences that have shaped him. With her thoughtful guidance, she has helped him organize his ideas and craft a personal statement that truly captures who he is. Joanna has an amazing way of drawing out the best in her students—she asks the right questions, gives gentle but insightful feedback, and always motivates with positivity. What could have been a stressful process has turned into a journey of self-discovery for my son. We are so grateful for the time, energy, and care Joanna has invested in helping him put together applications that reflect his authentic voice.

Harjit, 2 lessons with Joanna

Encouraging and inspiring tutor

Joanna worked patiently with my daughter through the creation of her college essay. My daughter walked away with a polished finished product that was a reflection of who she is as a senior in high school. More importantly, Joanna helped my daughter find her personal voice and the confidence I always knew she had!

Janelle, 5 lessons with Joanna

Knowledgeable and detailed Tutor

Joanna helped me edit and convey meaning in my personal statement to my graduate program, She was extremely helpful in editing grammar, pin pointing main ideas and getting the point across. It was a great pleasure having her as my tutor and I 100% recommend as you are editing your essays and making those revisions.

Ariana, 1 lesson with Joanna
Hourly Rate: $45
Response time: 1 hour
Contact Joanna