I love everything about writing - from the initial draft to the final edits - though writing good, solid prose is no walk in the park. But the benefits to learning how to write well, never stop. Scie... ntists have even asserted that writing causes regions of a writer's brain to become more active because the writer may be subconsciously seeing the scenes in their head that they are writing down - just as though the action were happening to them in real life. When I taught high school social studies and tutored language arts, I always made sure that my students did a lot of writing. And though it may sound old-fashioned, I do still rely on E.B. White’s Elements of Style, as the foundation for teaching my students how to write. I know it has served me well in my work as a freelance writer formulating speeches and creating promotional pamphlets. My sense is that too often students and teachers allow the mechanics of writing to get in the way of what they want to express. I often tell my students to just "write what they mean." From there we can deal with the grammatical mechanics of writing, but with an emphasis on using the active voice. Using the active voice to write can be difficult to get used to, but when appropriately put to work, it often simplifies sentence structure, eliminates unnecessary words, and forces the students to write in more compellingly and persuasively. I think it's the key to good writing. read more

I have lived here in Washington, DC for more than twenty years and my family and I really enjoy all the museums and cultural events that Washington has to offer. We have also been lucky enough to tr... avel both internationally and, here, in the United States. We plan our own itineraries and when we travel internationally we make a special effort to stay in locally-run motels and hostels to take in as much of the local culture, as possible. And we do a lot of walking. That has always seemed to me to be the best way to get to know a new place. I also very much enjoy cooking. And after thirty years of cooking, I still make an effort to prepare meals that come from different regions of the world. In fact, when my son was younger, the idea was, in part, to provide him with a stronger connection to the places and cultures that we were studying, here, at home. I really enjoyed teaching and tutoring because I am curious about how the world works and sharing that enthusiasm with my students is very gratifiying. So, by what means of inspiration, philosophy, and, occasionally, cajoling, do I encourage my students to take. I suppose the trail that I follow takes up the tenets of “constructivism” with a strong emphasis on reading and writing and discussion all aimed at helping to propel real learning to a more indelible, meaningful level. If you can read, write, and think you are headed, in my opinion, in the surest direction for success.read more