Michelle R.

Oakland, USA

New Jersey Certified English Teacher with Journalism Background

Bio

My career started in 1993 as a reporter at South Bergenite, a weekly newspaper serving 36,000 households in five towns in southern Bergen County, New Jersey. I served as editor in ... Read more

My career started in 1993 as a reporter at South Bergenite, a weekly newspaper serving 36,000 households in five towns in southern Bergen County, New Jersey. I served as editor in chief of that paper for three years before being promoted to Special Sections Editor of the Weekly Division of North Jersey Community Newspapers.

I finished my Bachelor's degree in English at New Jersey City University in 2006, continuing on to the New Pathways to Teaching in New Jersey program that earned me a New Jersey Teacher of English certificate. I taught in high schools throughout northern New Jersey from 2006-2014.

Between 1994 and 2014, I worked intermittently as a freelance writer and private tutor. I worked on such exciting projects as a memoir for an immigrant with limited English; a doctoral dissertation on second-generation language loss; and a coffee table book about successful Indian Americans.

Since 2015, I have been running Pink Dog Estate Sales with my family. I wrote all of our marketing materials and weekly listings. For health reasons, we closed the business in 2024.

I am back writing and teaching independently. I love helping students in the upper grades through adult to unlock the complexities of Standard American English grammar; American, British and World literature; and business and academic communications. Read less

Teaching methodology

I prefer to begin with a reading, which we can then analyze together, followed by guided practice, and then a relevant student writing assignment. I'm much more interested in addre... Read more

I prefer to begin with a reading, which we can then analyze together, followed by guided practice, and then a relevant student writing assignment. I'm much more interested in addressing students' questions and concerns than in imparting information. Read less

• $65

  Hourly rate