FAQs about my work with students

Describe the range of your students.

I work with students in late middle school, high school, college, and graduate school. Their abilities and interests cover a broad terrain. Many are good students ready to learn to think more deeply, develop better organizational skills, and improve their written expression. Others are gifted and crave individualized enrichment opportunities as creative writers or essayists. Still others have IEPs and 504 plans due to mild or moderate executive functioning challenges, ADD, processing speed, and other challenges, including high-functioning learners on the autism spectrum.

Do you teach students close reading and critical thinking, in addition to writing skills?

Absolutely. While close reading enables students to notice all the nuances that a text conveys, critical thinking enables students to deeply probe those nuances. Writing is a vital skill for sharing the ideas and information one gleans from thinking critically. Helping students boldly develop their abilities as readers and thinkers creates the very purpose for writing.

How does your professional background inform your work with students and adults?

For more than 30 years, my award-winning writing and editing have been featured in publications by Harvard University, MIT, world-class research hospitals, and other prominent institutions. The skills I developed working alongside global thought leaders are the exact same skills I share with my students and professional clients. All effective writing begins the same way: with brainstorming, critical thinking, strategic organization, and a clear understanding of audience and form.

Why did you become a writing coach?

As the Publications Director and Editor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for seven years, I published countless articles about the ways that students’ lives were changed by excellent educators. At some point, I started to wonder if I could use my knowledge of writing and editing to directly help others. After volunteering as a tutor, I moved on to teach at a private high school, and then became a writing professor in a graduate degree program. Throughout each facet of my career, my forte—and my favorite work—has always been one-on-one work. That’s when deep, personalized instruction takes place. There’s just nothing more effective. Thoughtful, nurturing relationships embolden writers of all ages to take new risks. As a writer, I have a pretty good imagination, but I can’t conceive of anything better than helping people develop confidence and skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives. 

What excites you about your work, year after year?

All my students have their own special skills and interests. I enter each session attuned to their individuality. Getting to know them in a holistic way opens a pathway for each student to develop understanding about their own learning style. This knowledge eventually leads students to their own innate desire to learn. There is no force more powerful or reliable for ensuring student success than their own motivation.

What colleges and universities have your students attended?

Some of the schools my students have had the opportunity to attend include: Bard, Bates, Bennington, Bowdoin, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Bryn Mawr, Carnegie Mellon, Colby, Cornell, Curry, Dartmouth, Eastman School of Music, Georgetown, George Washington, Harvard, Massachusetts College of Art, McGill, Middlebury, Middlesex Community College, New York University, Northwestern, Oberlin, Rensselaer Polytech, Sarah Lawrence, Smith, Stanford, Tufts, Tulane, University of California/Berkeley, UCLA, University of Chicago, University of Michigan/Ann Arbor, University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, USC, University of Vermont, University of Virginia, University of Wisconsin/Madison, and Vanderbilt.