When I was in eighth grade, I told my French teacher that I was thinking of changing to studying Latin the next year, and she said that was a good idea because my spelling (of both French and English) was horrible. She was not alone in this assessment; in elementary school my percentage in the "Spelling" section of the statewide test approached the single digits. I have no doubt that she would be rather surprised to learn that now I am a PhD. student in Latin and Greek and have taught, numerous times, a college level class entirely on English vocabulary: "The Greek and Latin Roots of English". While I am happy that my spelling is now much better, I am much more happy that I can share my love of reading, writing and literature with my own students. I approach tutoring as an experienced college instructor, having taught hundreds of students at the City University of New York over the past four years. I seek to help students become confident autodidacts (self-learners) by connecting the critical tools of reading and writing to their own interests. I know that not all my students will relish the distinction between a direct object and indirect object with my intensity, but they all appreciate knowing how a solid understanding of the mechanics of grammar will make their essays even clearer and more persuasive. An experienced Latin teacher, I have taught both Latin grammar and a seminar on a close reading of Vergil's Aeneid in the original Latin. While teaching Latin, I ensure that the students have a firm grasp of the function of each word in every sentence, whether we are reading stories from the textbook Ecce Romani! or Ovid's Metamorophoses. I understand that the vocabulary and the numerous exceptions in Latin grammar can overwhelm students, but I also know that with patience and diligence every learner can approach and read great writers like Vergil and Ovid. In addition to language classes, I have also taught a number of literature classes, including "Greek and Roman Classics in Translation" and "Literature and Film". Essays play a large part in all my literature classes. I assigned, guided and graded hundreds of student essays in the past four years and as a result I am very comfortable sitting down with students to talk about all aspects of the writing process, ranging from sentence structure to the ordering of paragraphs. Another reason that I love talking to students about reading and writing is that I am those abilities everyday myself: I am currently writing my dissertation on Greek and Roman slavery. I have to read Greek and Roman authors in their original languages very closely, while also comparing my own ideas to those of contemporary scholars. A number of years ago I stumbled into my passion and then took advantage of the tools that various teachers gave me to write my own scholarship. I am excited to help students today have the tools to work on their own projects.

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