SAT Writing and High School Level English tutor

About Stephen

I am a professional screenwriter and playwright. I am also a tenured English As A Second Language teacher in the Los Angeles School District. I have taught English As A Second Language in Los Angeles for the past nineteen years. Before that I taught composition writing at a college level. I taught playwriting at Carnegie Mellon University.

My passion is writing. I know many students are either intimidated or lack the confidence to write. I like to remove the fear of writing by guiding my students in taking the necessary steps to structure their essays in a clear and coherent fashion. I believe writing is preparation. Asking oneself the appropriate questions in order to stay on track and respond to the question posed is crucial. Formulating a coherent essay structure relieves much of the student's anxiety so that writing becomes the easy part. Often nerves and anxiety overwhelm a student at test time and the idea of taking pause to structure a response is forgotten. I am confident in my ability to demystify the fear of essay writing by teaching structural approaches that will make writing easier. If a solid structure for an essay is created at the outset, especially under the pressure of a test, more time can be given to reviewing grammar and tone - vital aspects of essay writing that can't be forgotten.

Because I love to write and teach and am energetic I am confident in my ability to make the writing process fun.