Mrs. Koss was a high-school French and Spanish teacher who became a professional tutor in 2019. Her foreign-language-teaching days led her to a singular interest in words and learning vocabulary. Formidable words pervade the digital SAT, causing excessive consternation for students when erroneous notions of the implications of language in passages impede their comprehension and prevent success. But seriously. The College Board jacked up the vocab on this test. On vocab in context questions, you may be able to figure out what the word means, but if you don’t know any of the answers, you’re probably not going to get it right. On the other reading questions, you may not even realize that you don’t know what a word means. If you read “contempt” and you think it says “content,” you’re missing the cue to the correct answer. Let Mrs. Koss help you learn vocabulary and improve your reading and writing score. (And she can help you improve the math, too.) Or if it’s French or Spanish vocabulary you need help with, she’s here to help you.
Education and Experience
Mrs. Koss decided in seventh grade that she would be a French teacher when she grew up--not because she wanted to travel the world, but because she loved language. She studied French and Spanish in high school and college, and she graduated magna cum laude from Marywood College (now university) in 1994 with a BA in French and Spanish, a minor in ESL, and a K-12 Pennsylvania teaching certificate.
She has also had training and experience in developing online courses and creating a variety of materials for foreign-language distance learning. She has also received special training in working with students with learning differences, especially ADHD, ASD, processing disorders, dyslexia (older students), dysgraphia, anxiety, and more. Her experience with these students is extensive.
In Mrs. K's senior year at Marywood, she heard the first hint that there was a new communication tool coming down the pike when she heard a girl in the study lounge in the dorm typing messages on a computer to someone at another school.
Three years later, she started graduate school at College Misericordia (now university), and because she didn't know anything about the Internet and computers, she chose the Educational Technology program. It was an odd time for ed tech because some classes still used old technology (analog video editing, Ken Nesbitt's Web Edit), but she also had her first exposure to Photoshop, Illustrator, and Macromedia products like Dreamweaver and Fireworks.
Despite the idea that her M.S. was already obsolete when she graduated in 2001, Mrs. K realized that she had learned essential skills that allowed her to think about projects "in terms of (to borrow an SAT math phrase)" technology, and she became the master of the workaround. Now she uses a variety of programs to complete tasks, often taking a file from one program to another to achieve her desired results. You won't notice this, though. You'll just enjoy the activity.
Mrs. K also has had training and experience in developing online courses and creating a variety of materials for foreign-language distance learning. She loves to make educational materials for her students and for other teachers to use in their own classrooms. She has also received special training in working with students with learning differences, especially ADHD, ASD, processing disorders, dyslexia (older students), dysgraphia, anxiety, and more.
Subject Coverage
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PSAT/SAT/ACT Test-Prep (all sections)
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TESOL/IELTS Test-Prep
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French and Spanish (middle and high school, college, IB and AP test prep)
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English/Reading Comprehension/Writing/Vocabulary (8th grade and up)
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AP English Language and Literature
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World, European, US History, US Government, Psychology (8th grade and up, AP, and college intro levels)