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BIO:
Barbara is delighted to join the tutoring team at New Hope Tutorials and to share her passion for history, literature and writing with a new community of learners. She hails from Concord, MA, where she lives with her teacher-husband and 5 daughters. She taught history and ethics at Middlesex School for 8 years, where her husband continues to teach. She has homeschooled her own children and many others --- in learning co-ops, small groups, and writing classes throughout the area and online (http://writewell.lifewerks.com) for the past 16 years. Barbara's additional coursework in political philosophy at the University of Virginia enabled her to complement political studies with courses in literature, history and religion. She completed her undergraduate work in government and journalism at a small liberal arts college (Rider University), which fostered a seminar-approach to learning and teaching that has carried over into Barbara's own teaching style today.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY:
"Teaching history is like looking through a kaleidoscope: each ethnic, religious, class, racial, and subculture group views the same historical event and political figure with a different lens. Exploring multiple perspectives enables students to enter the authentic dialogue of history. The primary texts, political leaders and social groups of a given historical period are like characters in a comlex play. How we arrange the pieces affects how we interepret the play. Trying out each "part," so to speak, gives the fullest perspective. This also enables Christians to grow in descernment, so they can recognize and assess factors in hstory as well as in our contemporary culture.
"Writing effectively is a vital skill, both in academia and in life. Sorting wholes and parts -- developing the critical thinking skills that order thoughts -- are prerequisites to clear writing. Yet, writing and thinking are dynamic processes: we order our thoughts as we write; we write to create meaning. Understanding comes through this dialectical process. I've developed an approach to writing which reduces the abstract, and creates concrete steps that lead to mastery.
"My philosophy of teaching is likewise dynamic. Each student comes to a subject with a unique history, in terms of educational background, life experience, travel exposure, learning strengths and weaknesses, and with -- too often -- a fragile confidence. I always aim to make contact with and meet each student where he is on this journey of learning. I work hard to empower students to higher confidence levels, while holding them to the high standards which make for authentic achievement. It's always a delicate balancing act: holding the high standards that provide creative tension, in order to urge along higher achivement -- while not overstressing the child. It takes mindfulness, wisdom and creative thinking to hit the mark with each student."
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