Retired English professor with 28 years of experience teaching literature analysis, writing, & literature appreciation. I work with students in HS English, AP English, College Writing, and adult learn

Find out more about Susan

• When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  I developed an interest in English when I was very young! My first word was "book" and I was an avid reader. I love English classes and writing all through school and I became an English major in college in order to continue my studies. That's also where I began to tutor privately when I was hired by the English department to tutor students taking English courses. I earned a B.A. and an M. A. in English, became a professor, and tutored students for nearly 30 years before I left higher education. I now am a freelance entrepreneur and I tutor privately and love it so much.

• Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  I teach English, both composition and literature. I also like to teach film. If there is anything in the field/discipline of English, I've probably taught it quite a bit already, and I love to change what I teach because I like variety. My favorite subjects tend to be adolescent literature, fairy tales, films, tv series, pop culture subjects, and creative writing. I think probably working solely on grammar is not as "exciting", but it's very necessary, and I can always find interesting ways to teach that material as well. So I would say that I enjoy teaching all aspects of English writing and literature.

• Did you have any role models; a teacher that inspired you?

  Yes, I definitely did. My favorite teacher and role model in college was a professor in my department whose teaching style inspired me down the road. I just learned so much in his classes. He was interesting and fun to learn from but he also had high standards and that's what I am like when I teach. I am personable especially when working one-on-one and I make people feel at ease, which is what he did. Of course I was also inspired by my mom, because she was a teacher, and she even taught me in a few subjects in middle school!

• What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  Adaptability is a big one. Tutoring is something where you can plan for a session, but you also have to change on the spot if a particular strategy isn't working out, or if someone is struggling to understand. You also have to be able to engage someone who may not be "feeling it" that day. You have to be interesting and offer lots of examples, but those examples also have to resonate with that particular student, so getting to know the student better is key. I think knowing about a variety of approaches and having very in-depth knowledge of the subject matter is also very important. In my case, I do not have to take valuable time during a session to look things up. All the knowledge is in my head because I have so many years of expertise. So efficiency is really important, too.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  One of my favorite anecdotes related to when I was in graduate school and I had to give a presentation. I was so nervous, and I became even more nervous when the student who went before me dropped all his notecards everywhere and had no idea what he was talking about. I had prepared my paper, of course, but I still wasn't keen on standing up in front of 40 people since I had little experience then. So when I stood up to speak, I panicked, and instead of speaking extemporaneously, I read my paper aloud. The thing is that I had revised it so many times that I was able to look up very frequently and give eye contact. Later on, I thought I would get a B at the very least, but I earned 100%!! I asked my professor about this and he said that I had delivered the paper exactly the way it is done at professional conferences. I had no idea! This is what taught me that there isn't just one way to accomplish something. Sometimes people need a variety of ways to be successful. When I became a professor students were shocked that I "let" them present that way, but it was very professional. So when I work with students in tutoring, I try to convey to them that if they learned there is only one way to do something, likely, they were taught by someone too rigid, and we can go about things another way if that works better for them.

• What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  Hmmm...I have done my job for so long and studied my discipline so long that I don't feel I have difficulties or challenges, but one thing that I think is a challenge concerning English in general is that too many people take it for granted, and by "people", I tend to mean administrations of schools, NOT the students themselves. What I mean by this is that often, students are interested in writing better or reading more, but they are pushed away from the humanities because they are told that they can't get a job in the humanities. Well first of all, that's not true. But also, the fact is that EVERYONE needs to be able to express themselves, orally and/or in writing, and learning to read and write well just makes us better educated and more able to understand a variety of things in the world. So I would say the challenge has been in getting administrations to care about humanities (English, art, music, etc.) and to fund this area as well as the people who teach it.

• Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  I love teaching!! I really do. I love to work with one-on-one teaching and small groups. I especially love to help people become better writers, interpreters of literature, film, tv, and even video game stories! Most of all, I love to help people realize that they can become storytellers themselves. Besides these interests and passions, I love to knit! I am self-taught and make lots of garments. I also am a needleworker, and of course, I love to read! My favorite book genres to read tend to be fairy-tale retellings in novel form mostly, young adult lit, fantasy, and a little bit of SciFi.

• What makes you a Superprof (besides answering this interview questions :-P)?

  Lots of things! One is that I have a tremendous amount of experience and expertise. I am a published author many times over and I have done every step of the publishing process from the inception of the idea all the way to proofing the final copy before publication. I love all steps of the writing and editing process and can help people through publishing things themselves. I also have so much experience teaching college level and high school level English that I can assist so many people in a variety of ways and I don't waste time. I'm a quick thinker and can think on my feet extremely well, so I can answer questions easily and provide so many ways to help people learn. I am also a very kind and supportive person. I am one of those people who will have a 99% success rate in general--meaning, out of 100 students, 99 will absolutely adore my work, and 1 will just not like me. Often that's more if there is a personality conflict (and this has never actually happened in a tutoring situation but has happened if I am assigned a class to teach, and often, that one student is the one who has a problem with ALL of their teachers and education in general). I am also really good at reading people. I can read body language and such even over zoom, and if someone is struggling, I can usually tell and I will find another way to explain things. Lastly, I just really want to connect with people online. This pandemic has been rough on everyone. I think sometimes just interacting with someone else online, while you are learning something and improving your skills, can be such a great boost to your mood. So these are the reasons I think I can be YOUR Superprof!! (Plus the questions here were great, too!)