PrepNow Tutor - Elly S.
After working in the shipping logistics industry, Elly changed careers and is now pursuing her MFA while teaching college-level writing. Elly obtained her BA in sociology with a minor in creative writing from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Throughout her career, she has led enrichment activities—namely reading and math—for 3rd to 5th graders in an afterschool program and has helped high schoolers with college applications. As of 2024, she teaches research writing to undergraduates by day and works on her poetry MFA at Bowling Green State University.
Elly started tutoring in high school when she critiqued classmates' personal statements. "It was the first time my creative writing skills were really highlighted as a necessity, and I loved working with people to create goals and a plan to achieve them," she says. In her day-to-day, she works with college freshmen. "Seeing them change throughout the semester as they become more confident in themselves as scholars is a highlight of my career," Elly offers.
Elly's teaching philosophy involves equipping her students in a multitude of areas in their lives, not simply preparing them for a single problem at a time. "I try to identify where the student is having the most challenging times grasping concepts, which can be as broad as getting started on a project," she offers. For example, when teaching math, she asks her students to solve a few different problems; she then requests that students demonstrate their process from start to finish, including any math done in their heads. "I want to see how they go about the fundamentals," she explains.
In high school, Elly was a valued delegate in Model UN, a math tutor, and a volunteer with a nonprofit focused on addressing childhood trauma. Currently, she loves reading and playing with her cats—all five of them!
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