"Good day. I'm a veteran at my profession, having just retired after teaching college-bound juniors and seniors for 45 years in Montgomery County schools. The majority of my classes have been AP Language and AP Literature, but recently I've been an instructor in the International Baccalaureate program as well. I have also taught Honors, on-level, and skills-level classes. I am known as both demanding and fair, with a quick wit, an easy-going pace, humorous inter-relationships with students, and a panoply of techniques and approaches to draw the best out of students. I am never successful unless I can help the student reach the level he or she wants to attain. My students almost always leave my class feeling accomplished and prepared for the next level, with renewed energy and confidence. On occasion I've met students who decided not to supply energy or effort, but in the vast majority of cases my students have markedly improved their writing prowess and their interpretive abilities in literature--as well as their love of the texts and their appreciation of the techniques through which the authors work their magic.

Often in a classroom, time does not allow for the close one-on-one interplay that tutoring provides. I think that the tutoring atmosphere removes the distractions and unnecessary interruptions and burdens that come with living in a large classroom; tutoring returns the focus to a much more concentrated and streamlined working relationship. I should also point out that I've wanted to be a teacher since I was in middle school; my mother was also a teacher and embodied the best traits of that profession: patience, discipline, flexibility, and encouragement. I've also served two years in the U.S. military as an officer, and I've both played and coached high school sports, as well as refereed high school soccer, so I have a wide range of experience working with teen-agers in just about any possible environment. I feel I've been successful in all these endeavors.

I am excited to have the chance to" less...