I have over 25 years’ experience teaching English Language Arts. I’m a published author, editor, keynote speaker, and educational consultant in English Language Arts for several school districts in FL, CA, and NM. I’ve trained teachers throughout Florida for the FL Department of Education and worked with a diverse clientele around the country and abroad on public speaking and communication skills. I have a Master’s Degree from Brooklyn College, City University of New York.
My non-profit organization, Transformational Learning & Coaching, Inc. (http://storytellersandwriters.org/), has helped thousands of struggling students, including English Language Learners, score higher on their academic standardized Writing and Language Arts tests, using my Incite to Write program. (Read more about my background HERE. You can explore and purchase the Incite to Write Writing Activities HERE.)
But more importantly, I have worked in hundreds of classrooms hands-on, helping teachers and kids find better, more efficient, and definitely more fun ways to learn essential writing, reading and speaking skills. From these rich and diverse experiences, I created the Incite to Write program. In your tutoring sessions, you will be using many of the Incite To Write activities whether you are a student or an adult. And, you’ll enjoy engaging, relevant reading material and creative reading strategies to help you deepen reading comprehension skills.
Most students who come to me really dislike writing. I understand. Writing can be difficult. Writing demands higher level thinking skills, which are not taught adequately in the typical classroom where teachers under pressure do most of the thinking for the kids. Tutoring sessions often start with fun, oral thinking activities to help students get back in touch with their own minds and thinking process. Students gain confidence quickly, and then we move on to writing and reading.
Tutoring is step by step, filling in the gaps in schoolwork. Whatever level a student is confidently at, that is where we start. In this way, students begin to be OK with writing and reading comprehension because they are being given the tools that will help them progress from the point where they are at. They are given the next step to take. Instead of getting frustrated and feeling defeated, they can begin to enjoy the process of reading and communicating with increasing confidence.
Part of this process of communication involves speaking skills. I tell students, “write the way you speak”. But for many students, speaking coherently is not easy. Used to texting, they need practice sorting out their more complex thoughts and feelings. Incite to Write tutoring strategies encourage oral conversation as a way to improve self expression and writing skills. To improve critical thinking, students formulate and answer their own questions and practice the process of inquiry. This helps them go deeper into a subject. By getting curious and staying in the question, students generate ideas and learn to expand on a theme.
Critical and creative thinking skills are emphasized and exercised repeatedly, so that students learn to explore, imagine, infer, analyze, evaluate and take control of their thinking/learning process.
Writing and Reading have always gone hand in hand. Reading comprehension strategies require students to identify specific parts of the text, summarize, and even create their own test questions. Writing about text allows students to interact with the text in a more personal way and enter their voice into the reading process. Interestingly, research also shows that reading comprehension improves when students increase how often they produce their own text.
Incite to Write and the tutoring strategies are supported by ESSA Tier 1 Strong Evidence studies (see Evidence-Based Research). Additionally, strategies align with Common Core State Standards, specifically targeting the five strands of English Language Arts: Reading of Literature, Reading of Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language Usage.
Tutoring is tailored to each student or class and covers:
For tutoring sessions, students will need a gmail account. We will share documents using Google Docs. The Zoom screen is shared so that I can see as the student writes. All reading materials are also shared on the Zoom screen. For one-on-one tutoring, sessions are $70 per one-hour session for elementary and middle school students, and $80/hr for high school students.
Contact me HERE to schedule a phone call or ask a question, text/call me at 805-448-7357, or email me at carol@incitetowrite.com
I’ll get back to you usually within 24 hrs.
Half of the students I tutor are adults. They are tutoring for many diverse reasons. Whether it’s a new job or promotion, or you’re writing a manual for work, want to improve your speaking and presentation skills, or explore your creativity, the goal is to improve communication skills and self-expression.
Sometimes we don’t realize how important communication skills are until we are older. Tutoring is a way to fill in what we have forgotten, never learned in the first place, or need to practice. Tutoring provides an opportunity to explore new depths of self-expression because as adults we finally have a lot to communicate, and we want to do it well.
Tutoring sessions can focus on speaking and presentation skills
as well as writing in order to meet your goals.
Tutoring sessions are from $90-$100 per hour session.
You will need a gmail account so that we can share google docs over Zoom.
Contact me HERE to schedule a phone call or ask a question, text/call me at 805-448-7357, or email me at carol@incitetowrite.com
I’ll get back to you usually within 24 hrs.
