Career Development

I consider myself "born" in the career counseling field. While my own parents had solid occupations in guidance as teachers, I learned from them early on that success at any occupation requires both a passion that one has for a particular field and the self generated means to pursue that passion. Of course the career counseling field is not based solely on the personal experience of a particular individual or any group of individuals, but also on job availibility and the administration of specific tests; enabling the worker and company to match their abilities. A substitute the past three years in one of the largest public school systems in the country emphasizing science and technology (Fairfax County, Virginia), I have shared with guidance counselors just how much we have moved from a knowledge to a skills based economy. I have increasingly taken the place of police academy, drafting, medical technology and foreign language teachers as their class sizes continually increase in a complex multicultural world. Aware that I am biased by living inside the Washington, DC Beltway where the majority of occupations are government related, I continually track occupational data through CNN to see what nongovernmental kinds of jobs are available. Again, in the very words "Career Development" the individual, no matter what his or her circumstances, will always need to develop their chosen skills as they continually work to control costs toward a much later time of retirement.

Career Development

I consider myself "born" in the career counseling field. While my own parents had solid occupations in guidance as teachers, I learned from them early on that success at any occupation requires both a passion that one has for a particular field and the self generated means to pursue that passion. Of course the career counseling field is not based solely on the personal experience of a particular individual or any group of individuals, but also on job availibility and the administration of specific tests; enabling the worker and company to match their abilities. A substitute the past three years in one of the largest public school systems in the country emphasizing science and technology (Fairfax County, Virginia), I have shared with guidance counselors just how much we have moved from a knowledge to a skills based economy. I have increasingly taken the place of police academy, drafting, medical technology and foreign language teachers as their class sizes continually increase in a complex multicultural world. Aware that I am biased by living inside the Washington, DC Beltway where the majority of occupations are government related, I continually track occupational data through CNN to see what nongovernmental kinds of jobs are available. Again, in the very words "Career Development" the individual, no matter what his or her circumstances, will always need to develop their chosen skills as they continually work to control costs toward a much later time of retirement.

ESL/ESOL

While exposed to foreign languages as a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, (I took French for five years: cinque annees dans l'ecole secondaire), I have been a middle/high school substitute in the increasingly multiculturally diverse Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System over the past seven years. This has included teaching numerous classes in ESL(also Special Education) and French, German and Spanish Classes. Thus, continuing ESL classes will continue to be critical in teaching non-native speakers current events as it relates to my eventual goal in being a Certified World Social Studies teacher. This ESL/Social Studies link has not only been useful in school but also teaching ESL in my local Anglican Falls Church in Falls Church, VA. Our quickly growing parish has nearly twenty students from Cambodia (Khnmer), India(Hindi), Morocco (Arabic) and Ethiopia (Amharic) who all have a desire to learn and write proper English. It could very well be that the few ESL Courses I have taught will soon lead to ESL Certification, a suggestion made to me by an local middle school principle from Mexico last year. Having just completed my last Curry School of Education course ( University of Virginia) in understanding ESOL/ESL Students approach to Word Study, I look forward to preparing area students for the TOEFL Exam.

Grammar

A graduate of Hamilton College in Upstate New York who had to learn the hard way how to read and write, I am currently a long term substitute in the Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System. I truly benefited from a summer tutor who brought me from nearly flunking out my first year in college to getting nothing less than a B in writing my many years in school. One of my specialties due to both my education and many years with Borders Books was identifying, correcting and improving on better ways to communicate the English Language. I can be of help to any who want to really learn English Grammar.

Grammar

A graduate of Hamilton College in Upstate New York who had to learn the hard way how to read and write, I am currently a long term substitute in the Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System. I truly benefited from a summer tutor who brought me from nearly flunking out my first year in college to getting nothing less than a B in writing my many years in school. One of my specialties due to both my education and many years with Borders Books was identifying, correcting and improving on better ways to communicate the English Language. I can be of help to any who want to really learn English Grammar.

Reading

Currently a substitute instructor before eventually being hired full time for Fairfax, VA Public Schools, I have just finished a long term assignment focusing on reading with a special education class of students. While this assignment have been on one level, I am fully prepared to teach on all levels. My goal has always been sure to make sure my students read any number of kinds of materials including descriptive passages and complex arguments.

ACT English

The ACT English Test, though somewhat similar to the SAT English Test, has a number of unique characteristics. The main emphasis is on editing skills. The most heavily tested concepts are commas, apostrophes and strategy questions. While I know that the Barron's Guide emphasizes these three areas, my experience in the Fairfax County Public Schools has been that students struggle to actually comprehend passages because they are so bent on answering the test question first they spend needless time searching for the answer in the passage without even first understanding the passage. It's far more effective and efficient to read the passage and then, prompted by the question to find the answer.

English

A graduate of Hamilton College, I long ago benefited from the individual instruction of a private English Language Tutor who tremendously raised up my grades. A former employee of Borders Books where I was awarded their top Mid-Atlantic Salesman in 2003, I am currently a substitute and provisionally licensed middle school history teacher in the Fairfax County Public School System with the aim of becoming a full time teacher.

ESL/ESOL

While exposed to foreign languages as a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, (I took French for five years: cinque annees dans l'ecole secondaire), I have been a middle/high school substitute in the increasingly multiculturally diverse Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System over the past seven years. This has included teaching numerous classes in ESL(also Special Education) and French, German and Spanish Classes. Thus, continuing ESL classes will continue to be critical in teaching non-native speakers current events as it relates to my eventual goal in being a Certified World Social Studies teacher. This ESL/Social Studies link has not only been useful in school but also teaching ESL in my local Anglican Falls Church in Falls Church, VA. Our quickly growing parish has nearly twenty students from Cambodia (Khnmer), India(Hindi), Morocco (Arabic) and Ethiopia (Amharic) who all have a desire to learn and write proper English. It could very well be that the few ESL Courses I have taught will soon lead to ESL Certification, a suggestion made to me by an local middle school principle from Mexico last year. Having just completed my last Curry School of Education course ( University of Virginia) in understanding ESOL/ESL Students approach to Word Study, I look forward to preparing area students for the TOEFL Exam.

Grammar

A graduate of Hamilton College in Upstate New York who had to learn the hard way how to read and write, I am currently a long term substitute in the Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System. I truly benefited from a summer tutor who brought me from nearly flunking out my first year in college to getting nothing less than a B in writing my many years in school. One of my specialties due to both my education and many years with Borders Books was identifying, correcting and improving on better ways to communicate the English Language. I can be of help to any who want to really learn English Grammar.

Reading

Currently a substitute instructor before eventually being hired full time for Fairfax, VA Public Schools, I have just finished a long term assignment focusing on reading with a special education class of students. While this assignment have been on one level, I am fully prepared to teach on all levels. My goal has always been sure to make sure my students read any number of kinds of materials including descriptive passages and complex arguments.

SAT Reading

Both a Wyzant tutor and Fairfax County, Virginia Public School Substitute, I have a strong background in making sure students do well on the Reading Portion of the SAT. My own score enabled me to attend rigorous Hamilton College. Familiar that I needed to develop a strategy I experienced private tutoring in such test taking years ago. Thus, I have developed a reading strategy through Wyzant that has been adapted in the preparation of former SAT Candidates. They have done well as a result of my efforts !

SAT Writing

One who got through the SAT and struggled with writing my first year in college, I now really enjoy helping students become better writers particularly on standardized tests. A WyzAnt Certified instructor in the SAT, I am a substitute instructor in the Fairfax County Public School System and tutor at a prep school. Please look at my profile for yourself and contact WyzAnt at the phone number on top of their website to see how you can enter your contact information into their site. This way we can call one another and set up a schedule. Hope your enjoying your summer, Nat W., "Your Practical Tutor"

Writing

A graduate of Hamilton College in New York State, I literally went from nearly dropping out of college my first year until I found the services of a wonderful tutor and never scored less than a B+ on the rest of my years there. I very rapidly enjoyed writing which took me through both graduate seminary and professional studies.

American History

Currently a substitute in the Fairfax County Public School System, I am endorsed in both US and World History on my way to becoming a full time employee. With an anthropology concentration at Hamilton College, I very much enjoyed taking a particular course on the history of New York State which led me to almost declare a double major. I have loved the field ever since I had the unique pleasure of introducing out of town tourists to a British Cannonball from the American Revolution which still remains lodged in a colonial Connecticut Tavern.

Anthropology

My interest in the study of man both through his evolution and development, began in 6th grade. I have always been a keen student to find which researcher's evidence best show's the remains of the earliest man. While I began studying the works of Louis and Mary Leakey and their discovery of Austrolopithicus Africanus in the late 50s and early 60s Ihave recently focused on work of Donald Johanssen and his discovery of an even earlier homind he dubbed "Lucy". My grade school passion became my professional field of study at Hamilton College in Central New York. It was there that through anthropologist Dr. Robert Kautz, I learned just how important it was to study a particular culture's worldview and how that worldview informs upon human practice. At first we looked at current Iriquois Society and how its people remembered their past. The description of their creation story passing through generations involving a wolf informs the anthropologist what the Iriquois world must have been like. The job of the archaeologist is to come up with evidence; does one find wolf remains associated with remains of Iriquois Long Houses? I was to apply that same anthropological methodology further in college and into graduate seminary. A student of the Bible, I spent a month living in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem, Israel. While most of the city was closed down on Saturday, (the Jewish Sabbath), shopkeepers in the Arab Quarter made it a point to keep their shops open. When one reads the Bible, Jews are called to keep the Sabbath Holy. The Torah and other Jewish Texts prescribe the timeless behavior of God's Chosen People observing this special day.

European History

European History is definately one of my specialties. A graduate of Hamilton College, I took courses not only in Europen Studies but in Russian History as well. An understanding of this area is especially important for the AP HIgh School Student with any future plans in government, science or law.

Religion

A Cultural Anthropology Major (Hamilton College, A.B. 1980), I was not only required to take a course in world religions from Eastern Religions Expert Dr. Jay Williams, I also spent a month's concentrated January term with him in Israel. I also took a course in the religious syncretism of Latin America (Catholicism-Mayan Religion) taught by the chairman of the anthropology department, the late professor Grant Jones. I then pursued further graduate studies as a Comparative Relgion Major at a large Christian Graduate Institution (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, M.Div.,1991), I was required to study Islam, Hinduiam, Buddhism and Taoism and their differences from Christianity. My mentor and professor was the late Dr. J. Christy Wilson, Jr. who spoke fluent Arabic as the result of spending many years in Kabul, Afghanistan. A former Borders Bookstore Salesman where I set myself up for over 15 years as the stores religion consultant, I maintain ties with members of a neighboring mosque by co-teaching an ESL Class at my local church.

World History

A former Borders Books Employee (15 years) and current Fairfax County Employee, my passion is world history and the practical implications of knowing such history for solving today's complex problems. The latest book that I have read is called "Monsoon". A work by noted author Robert Kaplan, it details the fact that knowing the history of the Indian Ocean and those countries that surround it will be in the forefront of today's international relations.

Algebra 1

Algebra I definitely has its practical uses when trying to determine the usefulness of acronym entitled PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally). Order of operations is essentially when determining how best to simply expressions. A simplified expression, in turn, can help one solve equations.

English

A graduate of Hamilton College, I long ago benefited from the individual instruction of a private English Language Tutor who tremendously raised up my grades. A former employee of Borders Books where I was awarded their top Mid-Atlantic Salesman in 2003, I am currently a substitute and provisionally licensed middle school history teacher in the Fairfax County Public School System with the aim of becoming a full time teacher.

ESL/ESOL

While exposed to foreign languages as a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, (I took French for five years: cinque annees dans l'ecole secondaire), I have been a middle/high school substitute in the increasingly multiculturally diverse Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System over the past seven years. This has included teaching numerous classes in ESL(also Special Education) and French, German and Spanish Classes. Thus, continuing ESL classes will continue to be critical in teaching non-native speakers current events as it relates to my eventual goal in being a Certified World Social Studies teacher. This ESL/Social Studies link has not only been useful in school but also teaching ESL in my local Anglican Falls Church in Falls Church, VA. Our quickly growing parish has nearly twenty students from Cambodia (Khnmer), India(Hindi), Morocco (Arabic) and Ethiopia (Amharic) who all have a desire to learn and write proper English. It could very well be that the few ESL Courses I have taught will soon lead to ESL Certification, a suggestion made to me by an local middle school principle from Mexico last year. Having just completed my last Curry School of Education course ( University of Virginia) in understanding ESOL/ESL Students approach to Word Study, I look forward to preparing area students for the TOEFL Exam.

Geometry

Geometry appears at the outset to be a very challenging endeavor when one starts from proofs. The real core idea, however, is that theorems come from the direct application of solving problems. This is essentially how Pythagoras got the idea for his practical formula c2 = a2 + b2. Theory and practice work together.

Prealgebra

Prealgebra is a great way to understand just how important it is to evaluate an unknown quantity. Thus, 2x+4=8 can best be understood as 2x=4 and x=2. Testing that unknown quantity by replacing the variable with a 2 shows you can check your work quite rapidly. It turns out to work quite nicely. Of course a student's success at prealgebra means he or she can more easily determine the unknown amount of a given quantity.

Reading

Currently a substitute instructor before eventually being hired full time for Fairfax, VA Public Schools, I have just finished a long term assignment focusing on reading with a special education class of students. While this assignment have been on one level, I am fully prepared to teach on all levels. My goal has always been sure to make sure my students read any number of kinds of materials including descriptive passages and complex arguments.

SAT Reading

Both a Wyzant tutor and Fairfax County, Virginia Public School Substitute, I have a strong background in making sure students do well on the Reading Portion of the SAT. My own score enabled me to attend rigorous Hamilton College. Familiar that I needed to develop a strategy I experienced private tutoring in such test taking years ago. Thus, I have developed a reading strategy through Wyzant that has been adapted in the preparation of former SAT Candidates. They have done well as a result of my efforts !

Writing

A graduate of Hamilton College in New York State, I literally went from nearly dropping out of college my first year until I found the services of a wonderful tutor and never scored less than a B+ on the rest of my years there. I very rapidly enjoyed writing which took me through both graduate seminary and professional studies.

ESL/ESOL

While exposed to foreign languages as a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, (I took French for five years: cinque annees dans l'ecole secondaire), I have been a middle/high school substitute in the increasingly multiculturally diverse Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System over the past seven years. This has included teaching numerous classes in ESL(also Special Education) and French, German and Spanish Classes. Thus, continuing ESL classes will continue to be critical in teaching non-native speakers current events as it relates to my eventual goal in being a Certified World Social Studies teacher. This ESL/Social Studies link has not only been useful in school but also teaching ESL in my local Anglican Falls Church in Falls Church, VA. Our quickly growing parish has nearly twenty students from Cambodia (Khnmer), India(Hindi), Morocco (Arabic) and Ethiopia (Amharic) who all have a desire to learn and write proper English. It could very well be that the few ESL Courses I have taught will soon lead to ESL Certification, a suggestion made to me by an local middle school principle from Mexico last year. Having just completed my last Curry School of Education course ( University of Virginia) in understanding ESOL/ESL Students approach to Word Study, I look forward to preparing area students for the TOEFL Exam.

Algebra 1

Algebra I definitely has its practical uses when trying to determine the usefulness of acronym entitled PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally). Order of operations is essentially when determining how best to simply expressions. A simplified expression, in turn, can help one solve equations.

Geometry

Geometry appears at the outset to be a very challenging endeavor when one starts from proofs. The real core idea, however, is that theorems come from the direct application of solving problems. This is essentially how Pythagoras got the idea for his practical formula c2 = a2 + b2. Theory and practice work together.

Prealgebra

Prealgebra is a great way to understand just how important it is to evaluate an unknown quantity. Thus, 2x+4=8 can best be understood as 2x=4 and x=2. Testing that unknown quantity by replacing the variable with a 2 shows you can check your work quite rapidly. It turns out to work quite nicely. Of course a student's success at prealgebra means he or she can more easily determine the unknown amount of a given quantity.

Algebra 1

Algebra I definitely has its practical uses when trying to determine the usefulness of acronym entitled PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally). Order of operations is essentially when determining how best to simply expressions. A simplified expression, in turn, can help one solve equations.

English

A graduate of Hamilton College, I long ago benefited from the individual instruction of a private English Language Tutor who tremendously raised up my grades. A former employee of Borders Books where I was awarded their top Mid-Atlantic Salesman in 2003, I am currently a substitute and provisionally licensed middle school history teacher in the Fairfax County Public School System with the aim of becoming a full time teacher.

ESL/ESOL

While exposed to foreign languages as a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, (I took French for five years: cinque annees dans l'ecole secondaire), I have been a middle/high school substitute in the increasingly multiculturally diverse Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System over the past seven years. This has included teaching numerous classes in ESL(also Special Education) and French, German and Spanish Classes. Thus, continuing ESL classes will continue to be critical in teaching non-native speakers current events as it relates to my eventual goal in being a Certified World Social Studies teacher. This ESL/Social Studies link has not only been useful in school but also teaching ESL in my local Anglican Falls Church in Falls Church, VA. Our quickly growing parish has nearly twenty students from Cambodia (Khnmer), India(Hindi), Morocco (Arabic) and Ethiopia (Amharic) who all have a desire to learn and write proper English. It could very well be that the few ESL Courses I have taught will soon lead to ESL Certification, a suggestion made to me by an local middle school principle from Mexico last year. Having just completed my last Curry School of Education course ( University of Virginia) in understanding ESOL/ESL Students approach to Word Study, I look forward to preparing area students for the TOEFL Exam.

Geometry

Geometry appears at the outset to be a very challenging endeavor when one starts from proofs. The real core idea, however, is that theorems come from the direct application of solving problems. This is essentially how Pythagoras got the idea for his practical formula c2 = a2 + b2. Theory and practice work together.

Prealgebra

Prealgebra is a great way to understand just how important it is to evaluate an unknown quantity. Thus, 2x+4=8 can best be understood as 2x=4 and x=2. Testing that unknown quantity by replacing the variable with a 2 shows you can check your work quite rapidly. It turns out to work quite nicely. Of course a student's success at prealgebra means he or she can more easily determine the unknown amount of a given quantity.

Reading

Currently a substitute instructor before eventually being hired full time for Fairfax, VA Public Schools, I have just finished a long term assignment focusing on reading with a special education class of students. While this assignment have been on one level, I am fully prepared to teach on all levels. My goal has always been sure to make sure my students read any number of kinds of materials including descriptive passages and complex arguments.

Writing

A graduate of Hamilton College in New York State, I literally went from nearly dropping out of college my first year until I found the services of a wonderful tutor and never scored less than a B+ on the rest of my years there. I very rapidly enjoyed writing which took me through both graduate seminary and professional studies.

Clarinet

Introduced to the clarinet in the Fourth Grade, I eventually joined the Ridgefield, Connecticut High School Orchestra and Band as their Bass Clarinetist. It was there, too, that I benefited from the wonderful counsel of our music director who, as a native of Western New York, enlisted me in the town's youth orchestra. He encouraged me to compete in several statewide music competitions. One year I made the All-State Band and performed under the late Eastman Woodwind Director Mr. Frederick Fennell. Upon high school Graduation one of my college decisions included whether or not the school had a music program. Throughout my four years of college I performed the bass clarinet with the school's woodwind ensemble under the leadership of a professor from a nearby university. Since then I take up the clarinet and play on my own and volunteer my services to play with others. I know from experience, just how private lessons are very rewarding.

ESL/ESOL

While exposed to foreign languages as a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, (I took French for five years: cinque annees dans l'ecole secondaire), I have been a middle/high school substitute in the increasingly multiculturally diverse Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System over the past seven years. This has included teaching numerous classes in ESL(also Special Education) and French, German and Spanish Classes. Thus, continuing ESL classes will continue to be critical in teaching non-native speakers current events as it relates to my eventual goal in being a Certified World Social Studies teacher. This ESL/Social Studies link has not only been useful in school but also teaching ESL in my local Anglican Falls Church in Falls Church, VA. Our quickly growing parish has nearly twenty students from Cambodia (Khnmer), India(Hindi), Morocco (Arabic) and Ethiopia (Amharic) who all have a desire to learn and write proper English. It could very well be that the few ESL Courses I have taught will soon lead to ESL Certification, a suggestion made to me by an local middle school principle from Mexico last year. Having just completed my last Curry School of Education course ( University of Virginia) in understanding ESOL/ESL Students approach to Word Study, I look forward to preparing area students for the TOEFL Exam.

Religion

A Cultural Anthropology Major (Hamilton College, A.B. 1980), I was not only required to take a course in world religions from Eastern Religions Expert Dr. Jay Williams, I also spent a month's concentrated January term with him in Israel. I also took a course in the religious syncretism of Latin America (Catholicism-Mayan Religion) taught by the chairman of the anthropology department, the late professor Grant Jones. I then pursued further graduate studies as a Comparative Relgion Major at a large Christian Graduate Institution (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, M.Div.,1991), I was required to study Islam, Hinduiam, Buddhism and Taoism and their differences from Christianity. My mentor and professor was the late Dr. J. Christy Wilson, Jr. who spoke fluent Arabic as the result of spending many years in Kabul, Afghanistan. A former Borders Bookstore Salesman where I set myself up for over 15 years as the stores religion consultant, I maintain ties with members of a neighboring mosque by co-teaching an ESL Class at my local church.

Anthropology

My interest in the study of man both through his evolution and development, began in 6th grade. I have always been a keen student to find which researcher's evidence best show's the remains of the earliest man. While I began studying the works of Louis and Mary Leakey and their discovery of Austrolopithicus Africanus in the late 50s and early 60s Ihave recently focused on work of Donald Johanssen and his discovery of an even earlier homind he dubbed "Lucy". My grade school passion became my professional field of study at Hamilton College in Central New York. It was there that through anthropologist Dr. Robert Kautz, I learned just how important it was to study a particular culture's worldview and how that worldview informs upon human practice. At first we looked at current Iriquois Society and how its people remembered their past. The description of their creation story passing through generations involving a wolf informs the anthropologist what the Iriquois world must have been like. The job of the archaeologist is to come up with evidence; does one find wolf remains associated with remains of Iriquois Long Houses? I was to apply that same anthropological methodology further in college and into graduate seminary. A student of the Bible, I spent a month living in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem, Israel. While most of the city was closed down on Saturday, (the Jewish Sabbath), shopkeepers in the Arab Quarter made it a point to keep their shops open. When one reads the Bible, Jews are called to keep the Sabbath Holy. The Torah and other Jewish Texts prescribe the timeless behavior of God's Chosen People observing this special day.

Algebra 1

Algebra I definitely has its practical uses when trying to determine the usefulness of acronym entitled PEMDAS (Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally). Order of operations is essentially when determining how best to simply expressions. A simplified expression, in turn, can help one solve equations.

ESL/ESOL

While exposed to foreign languages as a student at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut, (I took French for five years: cinque annees dans l'ecole secondaire), I have been a middle/high school substitute in the increasingly multiculturally diverse Fairfax County, Virginia Public School System over the past seven years. This has included teaching numerous classes in ESL(also Special Education) and French, German and Spanish Classes. Thus, continuing ESL classes will continue to be critical in teaching non-native speakers current events as it relates to my eventual goal in being a Certified World Social Studies teacher. This ESL/Social Studies link has not only been useful in school but also teaching ESL in my local Anglican Falls Church in Falls Church, VA. Our quickly growing parish has nearly twenty students from Cambodia (Khnmer), India(Hindi), Morocco (Arabic) and Ethiopia (Amharic) who all have a desire to learn and write proper English. It could very well be that the few ESL Courses I have taught will soon lead to ESL Certification, a suggestion made to me by an local middle school principle from Mexico last year. Having just completed my last Curry School of Education course ( University of Virginia) in understanding ESOL/ESL Students approach to Word Study, I look forward to preparing area students for the TOEFL Exam.

Geometry

Geometry appears at the outset to be a very challenging endeavor when one starts from proofs. The real core idea, however, is that theorems come from the direct application of solving problems. This is essentially how Pythagoras got the idea for his practical formula c2 = a2 + b2. Theory and practice work together.

Reading

Currently a substitute instructor before eventually being hired full time for Fairfax, VA Public Schools, I have just finished a long term assignment focusing on reading with a special education class of students. While this assignment have been on one level, I am fully prepared to teach on all levels. My goal has always been sure to make sure my students read any number of kinds of materials including descriptive passages and complex arguments.

Writing

A graduate of Hamilton College in New York State, I literally went from nearly dropping out of college my first year until I found the services of a wonderful tutor and never scored less than a B+ on the rest of my years there. I very rapidly enjoyed writing which took me through both graduate seminary and professional studies.

ACT English

The ACT English Test, though somewhat similar to the SAT English Test, has a number of unique characteristics. The main emphasis is on editing skills. The most heavily tested concepts are commas, apostrophes and strategy questions. While I know that the Barron's Guide emphasizes these three areas, my experience in the Fairfax County Public Schools has been that students struggle to actually comprehend passages because they are so bent on answering the test question first they spend needless time searching for the answer in the passage without even first understanding the passage. It's far more effective and efficient to read the passage and then, prompted by the question to find the answer.

Career Development

I consider myself "born" in the career counseling field. While my own parents had solid occupations in guidance as teachers, I learned from them early on that success at any occupation requires both a passion that one has for a particular field and the self generated means to pursue that passion. Of course the career counseling field is not based solely on the personal experience of a particular individual or any group of individuals, but also on job availibility and the administration of specific tests; enabling the worker and company to match their abilities. A substitute the past three years in one of the largest public school systems in the country emphasizing science and technology (Fairfax County, Virginia), I have shared with guidance counselors just how much we have moved from a knowledge to a skills based economy. I have increasingly taken the place of police academy, drafting, medical technology and foreign language teachers as their class sizes continually increase in a complex multicultural world. Aware that I am biased by living inside the Washington, DC Beltway where the majority of occupations are government related, I continually track occupational data through CNN to see what nongovernmental kinds of jobs are available. Again, in the very words "Career Development" the individual, no matter what his or her circumstances, will always need to develop their chosen skills as they continually work to control costs toward a much later time of retirement.

SAT Reading

Both a Wyzant tutor and Fairfax County, Virginia Public School Substitute, I have a strong background in making sure students do well on the Reading Portion of the SAT. My own score enabled me to attend rigorous Hamilton College. Familiar that I needed to develop a strategy I experienced private tutoring in such test taking years ago. Thus, I have developed a reading strategy through Wyzant that has been adapted in the preparation of former SAT Candidates. They have done well as a result of my efforts !

SAT Writing

One who got through the SAT and struggled with writing my first year in college, I now really enjoy helping students become better writers particularly on standardized tests. A WyzAnt Certified instructor in the SAT, I am a substitute instructor in the Fairfax County Public School System and tutor at a prep school. Please look at my profile for yourself and contact WyzAnt at the phone number on top of their website to see how you can enter your contact information into their site. This way we can call one another and set up a schedule. Hope your enjoying your summer, Nat W., "Your Practical Tutor"