Karen H.

specializes in Composition and Creative Writing Tutor · female

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Personal Statement

Dear future potential tutee, I’ve decided to tell you about my experience and interest in tutoring through a short letter which is more personal than a standard cover letter. After all, tutoring is all about the personal, one-on-one experience that a tutee can have when working with a tutor who truly strives to understand his or her learning goals or needs. I’ve been tutoring on and off since 1997. I’ve worked in writing centers for both a community college and a university; I’ve done freelance tutoring, and I’ve also tutored ESL students in both the United States and abroad in South Korea. Despite the environment or a tutee’s level of English proficiency in speaking or writing, my approach is always the same—to identify the primary writing concern that a tutee has by listening to a tutee describe this concern, to thoroughly explain how to handle this concern by offering detailed approaches and specific examples to the tutee, and to make sure that a tutee understands how to address this writing concern on their own before we exit a tutorial session. While I also have a passion for teaching full-sized classes, tutoring enables me to lavish special attention on tutees that might not get such specialized attention in a classroom full of students who learn at different speeds and have various learning styles. Although it is important to me that I establish a comfortable and trusting relationship with my tutees, it is equally important to me that I challenge them to think for themselves. In my opinion, as an educator, I find that students learn best when their opinions are nurtured because this encourages them to open up with questions that help to better target where their key concerns with writing reside. My goal as a tutor then is to make sure that my tutees are able to walk away from our sessions feeling confident that they can now handle the writing concern that they originally had trouble with. Therefore, before a tutorial session ends, a tutee must show me that they understand how to handle their original writing concern rather than just saying they can. So, the following are some approaches that I use whenever I work with a potential tutee. One golden rule I reinforce throughout my sessions with tutees is that they must do the work. To effectively enforce this, I make sure that they are the ones holding the pen or pencil at all times. In my experience, tutees become disengaged when they are not the one holding the writing instrument. They must be poised and ready to show me what they’ve been learning at any point during our session. Another learning tactic that I use with tutees is something I like to phrase as explanations in the form of questions. I find that by offering my tutees explanations to their writing concerns in the form of questions gets tutees talking and thinking about how to handle these concerns on their own, long after our session ends. And, that’s really the point of teaching in any form. A good tutor should strive to get their tutees to think on their own so that this fosters confidence in them to tackle future writing issues. Tutees should never become dependent upon tutors to “fix” their writing; the point of a healthy tutor-tutee relationship is that a tutee learns how to address particular writing concerns beyond the tutorial session. I do not want my tutees to know how I would write; instead, I want to help tutees find out more about how they write and then move forward to nurture that recognition with them through various approaches. A third tactic that I use is to have tutees provide me with written examples of something that we have covered. I try to do this with each major point or concept that is covered before moving on to the next. This way, any roadblocks with regard to understanding an overall issue will be addressed, and tutees will be able to see their own writing skills developing. I also converse with tutees before our session to make sure that I have an idea of what we will be covering. This way, I can best prepare even if our session changes while we are working together. Additionally, I follow up with tutees after our sessions via e-mail to see how they felt about the session and if they require another with me for that particular writing concern. Another reason that I love tutoring is the unique array of writing concerns that I am approached with which can range from resume writing to poetry writing. As my resume indicates, I have professional experience working as a composition and creative writing instructor. I also love working with students who come from various academic backgrounds (in terms of their majors) and various personal backgrounds. I strive to be sensitive to varying levels of writing skills, and delight in helping to hone tutees’ skills while helping them to acquire new ones. In short, I’m a dedicated tutor who loves helping tutees become stronger writers and more confident thinkers. I hope to learn as much from my tutees as they learn from me. I’m looking forward to working on your writing with you! Warmly, Karen

San Francisco, CA 94109