PrepNow Tutor - Vanessa L.
Vanessa was awarded academic achievement scholarships to study corporate communications at the University of Texas at Austin. A Spanish minor, she also spent a semester abroad at the Universidad de Granada, Spain.
After graduating Summa cum Laude, she entered Teach for America and taught 4th grade for two years in Los Angeles, while earning her multi-subject teaching credential through CalState TEACH. Vanessa left the school to earn her MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, once again with academic achievement scholarships. Her critical thesis, "Please Sweat the Small Stuff: Shaping Tone with Sound and Syntax," was awarded highest honors.
She then taught fifth grade for four years at a prestigious private K - 6 school. In the classroom, Vanessa focused on cross-curricular writing instruction, technology integration, and project-based learning. Her goal is to teach students how to be "lifelong, resourceful, and collaborative learners."
Since completing a fellowship with the Los Angeles Writing Project and her certificate in Digital Journalism in early 2012, Vanessa has provided writing workshops, tutoring programs, and editorial services for all ages and abilities. The workshops she designs and directs serve to enhance compositional style, stamina, substance, and confidence. Student courses range from analytical reading and study skills to syntax and poetry to creative and academic writing. She also offers workshops for teachers to help them better coach their students to higher quality writing. In her spare time, Vanessa coaches writing in underserved schools with 826 LA, a nonprofit youth writing center.
Vanessa is a writer and guest blogger for literary and parenting websites, sharing tips for inspiring kids to write and giving them tools to write well. She creates and edits English-Language Arts materials for online educational sites, including rewriting news articles for readers at five different levels of complexity for grades 2-12 and designing related lesson plans that target nonfiction reading and writing skills.
Vanessa describes herself as "an enthusiastic, passionate, organized, diligent, resourceful/ready-for-anything, patient teacher." As a mentor, coach, and advocate, Vanessa aims to develop a rapport with each of her students session by session by listening closely, asking questions, and making as many connections to their lives as she can. "Rapport builds trust and respect, promotes growth, and boosts confidence and creativity," Vanessa says. "It also makes learning and teaching fun! I believe in process as much as final product, and I hope that my love of learning becomes infectious for those I teach."
In high school, Vanessa was active in sports, arts and student government. A member of the varsity swim team and a varsity cheerleader all four years, she was a swim team captain her junior and senior years. A four-year member of the yearbook committee, she was also student body vice president as a junior and senior. Throughout high school, Vanessa played the piano and took voice lessons, and as a senior, she starred as Lola in the school musical, "Damn Yankees."
These days, Vanessa enjoys spending quality time with friends and family, cooking, "getting crafty," playing with her three dogs and three cats, and "sharing and laughing often." A gardener and camper, she values "going green" and outdoor adventures, including snowboarding and swimming. She enjoys traveling, exploring the best of her city, and shopping for "unique stuff." Her media favorites include NPR and an eclectic assortment of podcasts, and television shows Game of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, Vikings, Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, and House of Cards. Vanessa has written a middle-grade novel and is currently working on a young adult novel.
