Elementary School Archives

Galina Kofman

September 9, 2019

A certified math specialist and private tutor with an extensive background in classroom and one-on-one settings, Galina Kofman loves math, and she aims to share that love. She is unwavering in her belief that all students can find math success. For Galina, the definition of math success goes beyond facility with numbers and mathematical concepts. It encompasses sophisticated lifelong critical thinking skills. It includes confidence in one’s ability both to perform math and also to use logical thinking to solve problems of all sorts. Through a creative approach that she personalizes to meet each student’s needs, she helps her learners to find positivity in math. She also helps students and families to confront and eliminate math- and testing-related anxiety and avoidance.

Galina Kofman has worked in public and independent school settings in New York and Westchester, teaching students in grades four through college with various levels of facility in math, from remedial to advanced and gifted. She has extensive experience helping students with exceptionalities. For the past three years, she has taught the Art of Problem Solving curriculum at a school for twice-exceptional children, who both are gifted and have a learning disability. Among the standardized tests for which she has helped students achieve math success are the SAT, ACT, PSAT, ISEE, SSAT, and the New York City SHSAT.

Galina is well-versed in the centrality of mathematics in business and technology fields. She holds degrees in mechanical engineering and computer science, and before becoming an educator, she spent two decades as a software engineer in New York, holding positions in software development, project management, and consulting for businesses ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies, including IBM and Morgan Stanley. A true pioneer of the internet, Galina holds two patents and three technical publications. With her deep subject knowledge, she helps students conceptualize the practical and theoretical applications of math success. In addition to helping others find joy in the field of study that she loves, Galina enjoys practicing tai chi and taking long walks with her dog.

Caroline Johnston

March 31, 2019

A graduate of Vassar College, and mother of three little girls, Caroline was born and raised in New York City, where she attended Trinity School for 13 years. Caroline uses her years of experience as a middle and high school teacher, an instructor for college-aged students and adults, and a private tutor, to help students of all ages with their writing, math skills, and test taking.

After working as a private tutor for a family in Beverly Hills for three years, Caroline took on a full-time position teaching English and social studies to 8^th graders at the prestigious Crossroads School in Santa Monica. While there, she also taught drama to 6^th, 8^th, 11^th, and 12^th graders. Since moving back to New York, Caroline has been teaching adults screenwriting and acting. Additionally, she blogged for a quirky motherhood website, and does private screenwriting coaching.

Since graduating from Vassar, Caroline has enjoyed volunteering as an alumni admissions officer, interviewing scores of students from high schools in Manhattan and Westchester. She also volunteers as a mentor for the South Central Scholars program where she offers academic and social support for exceptional students from low-income areas who have earned scholarships at prestigious universities.

Caroline’s unofficial philosophy is that the most important thing in life is to improve the world by bettering people’s daily lives. She tries to do this by bringing positivity, kindness, generosity, and respect into every situation.

Lastly, if there is one thing Caroline regrets from her teaching career, it’s that she was not a parent herself when she was teaching young students full time. She feels that being a parent now makes her more empathetic to children’s struggles and strengths, and better at understanding parents’ needs.

Bonnie Nyman

January 15, 2019

Bonnie Nyman is a secondary math specialist and private tutor with almost 20 years of teaching experience. She started her teaching career as a private math tutor, then taught high school math in the Mamaroneck Public School system. Four years ago, she transitioned to an independent day school in Greenwich, Connecticut that specializes in providing targeted learning support. Bonnie has experience teaching multiple grade levels and experience teaching diverse learners. Bonnie believes that student success is created through meaningful relationships and has been a middle school advisor for the past four years, too, in addition to teaching various electives that tap into her students’ other interests.

Bonnie has a Master’s Degree in Education in Mathematics and a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. She has taught in various classroom settings including co-teaching in a special education inclusion classroom. Presently, Bonnie teaches math to children who have specific learning disabilities. In addition, Bonnie teaches skills classes providing additional support to struggling learners. Bonnie teaches the curriculum to best meet the needs of her students.

Bonnie is driven to help her students overcome barriers that impact their learning, which includes close collaboration with her fellow teachers, administrators, special needs assistants and parents. Bonnie works to reach all students by providing opportunities for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning. Bonnie incorporates various methods and best practices into her teaching, which include computer-based programs and use of iPad technology in both the classroom setting as well as in one to one learning.

In her free time, Bonnie enjoys cooking, tennis, watching sports and spending time with her family.

Nancy Zhang

January 14, 2019

Nancy Zhang graduated with a B.A. from Vassar College with General Honors and Departmental Honors in Chinese Language and Literature, as well as French and Francophone Studies. She was also awarded the Yin-Lien C. Chin Prize for her senior project: an English-to-Chinese translation of “Golden Child,” a play by David Henry Hwang. During her undergraduate career, Nancy received a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship to study abroad in Beijing for one semester through the ACC Intensive Language and Culture Program at Minzu University. She returned two summers later to complete a Chinese teachers training program at the K-12 Teachers Institute.

Nancy began her teaching career upon graduation, starting at a sixth through twelfth grade preparatory school in West Hartford, Connecticut where she taught Chinese, served as a middle school academic advisor, and coached the middle school squash team. She also worked closely with the school’s Department of Diversity and Cultural Competency to advance the social justice and equity curriculum.

From there, Nancy moved on to work at another private school in Westport, Connecticut where she continued to teach Chinese to middle and high schoolers, and also had the opportunity to design an independent study high school French literature course. In her second year, Nancy served on a committee that oversaw the school’s reaccreditation process through CAIS (Connecticut Association of Independent Schools). This opportunity allowed her to develop a deep understanding of the various departments and division levels that contribute to the operations and success of a private school. In her third year there, in response to a lack of such a course, Nancy piloted a Health and Wellness class for seventh through ninth graders. She is currently in her fourth year at this school, and has branched out to working with five to seven year old students in subjects such as Science and Reading.

Nancy enjoys working with students of all ages, and is passionate about developing students’ self-awareness, compassion, and empathy in addition to academic pursuits. She has also provided in-person private tutoring as well as Skype e-tutoring sessions in subjects such as Chinese, Reading Comprehension, Writing Mechanics, and Executive Functioning and Organization Skills.

David Gomprecht

November 11, 2018

David Gomprecht, PhD, graduated from Wesleyan University, where he majored in mathematics and physics, and then went on to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. After working as a research mathematician for a few years, David returned to his hometown of New York City, where he has now been a math specialist and private tutor for over twenty years. His work with students has spanned a wide range of ages from third grade through college.

In recent years, David has become increasingly interested in enrichment mathematics, at a variety of levels. At the competitive independent school where he works, he enjoys running the fifth and sixth grade math club and coaching the high school math team. David is also a long time instructor at the New York Math Circle, where he teaches the most advanced middle school class and the most advanced high school class. In addition, David very much enjoys creating math problems, and is proud to have had problems on the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME) in both 2017 and 2018. In 2017 David also spoke at the Berkeley Math Circle about geometry, one of his favorite topics.

In addition to enrichment work, David has honed his craft over the last twenty plus years by teaching a broad variety of mathematics classes, including algebra, geometry, precalculus, calculus, multivariable calculus, and linear algebra. He has taught precalculus and geometry each year for the last twenty years, and is currently putting the finishing touches on a precalculus textbook that he has written. David also has been a student advisor and a grade dean, and he has been a member of curriculum committees at his school and at the Hunter College Elementary School. Additionally, with the support of the school where he teaches David has fostered relationships with math departments in India, China, and Turkey, and he has taught math classes in Delhi and Beijing.

When David isn’t teaching, he spends his time cooking dinner for his wife and three children, helping his kids with their homework, and pursuing his interests, which include reading, running, cooking, and playing the sitar.

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Galina Kofman

Caroline Johnston

Bonnie Nyman

Nancy Zhang

David Gomprecht

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School Planning

Private Tutoring

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