Michael

Rate $34
Response 24h

$34/hr

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English
Reading
Redaction
English Literature
Classics
French literature

English PhD with 10 years of college-level teaching experience providing English and literature tutoring

English
Reading
Redaction
English Literature
Classics
French literature

Lesson location

- online

About Michael

I am a practicing lawyer with an English PhD. I taught literature and composition courses at The University of Iowa for six years prior to practicing law, and I currently teach online literature and composition courses for a local university.

About the lesson

The study and interpretation of literature should be an opportunity to foster intellectual curiosity, sharpen critical thinking, and expand one's capacity for empathy through speculative discussion and writing exercises that are anchored in the details of the literary text. As a teacher, I work to provide my students with the analytical tools necessary to piece together literary clues, such as metaphors, in order for them to arrive at a variety of possible interpretations-as-solutions that are implicated by the text. I view the interpretative process as something akin to a game: there are rules (one needs to account for passages that may contradict an interpretation), but there is flexibility in how it can be played (not everyone needs to arrive at, for instance, a psychological interpretation of the text.) I thus make it known that it is not necessarily their conclusions that I judge, but whether they were as thoughtful and attentive to the text as possible in the process. Most importantly, I want my students to understand that the judgments (interpretative, ethical, aesthetic) they make while reading a text, and how they make them, can influence other judgments they make throughout life. Giving a friend the benefit of a doubt--as Othello fails to do--can often be better understood through the process of giving a literary character the benefit of a doubt. I want my students to be generous readers.

As a tutor, I first provide my students with assessments and a personal essay in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses as readers and writers. Then, I tailor my lessons to both capitalize on their strengths and push them to develop skills that they lack. For example, if a student has a problem brainstorming ideas for writing assignments, I walk them through the prose of Cormac McCarthy where his free-association style of prose demonstrates to students how one concept can unfurl into several paragraphs of thought.

Rates

Rate

Pack prices

5h: $135
10h: $252

online

$50/h

Details

No additional fee for traveling within Yellowstone County. I require 24 hour notice of cancellation or else a charge of $26.00 applies. I am only experienced at teaching and tutoring high school and college-aged students.

English PhD with 10 years of college-level teaching experience providing English and literature tutoring

Lesson location

About Michael

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Pack prices

online

Details

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English PhD with 10 years of college-level teaching experience providing English and literature tutoring

Lesson location

About Michael

About the lesson

Rates

Rate

Pack prices

online

Details

Similar English tutors in Billings

Jay

Sophie

Michael

Maz

Denise

Luka

Moira-Clare

Kelsey

Fareeha

Jack

Margaret SU

Duncan

Rezaan

San

Anjali

Pauline

Jose

David

Nikolina

Yolanda

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