English and Language Arts (ELA) Archives

Rachel Hirshan

Rachel completed her undergraduate degree from University at Buffalo in speech language pathology. She then earned her Master’s at CW Post in General and Special Education, Grades 1-6, with a concentration in Autism Spectrum Disorders. She also has a certification in Applied Behavior Analysis and several years of direct instructional experience. Her love and passion for teaching children has been prevalent since she was young.

Rachel is currently working at IS125Q, the Woodside Intermediate School, in Queens, teaching 6th grade self-contained math, science, and social studies. Many of her students enter 6th grade performing below grade level expectations in math, reading, and writing, and it’s Rachel’s job to close the gap and scaffold instruction so that each student succeeds. Rachel previously taught a private school on the Upper East Side as a Learning Specialist, where her students ranged from second to eighth grade.

While being a highly adaptive and versatile educator, she has enjoyed the opportunity to teach a diverse group of children including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, speech impairments, noncompliant behavior, learning disabilities, physical challenges as well as typical children. These experiences have helped her blossom into a well-rounded and compassionate individual, private tutor, and educator, who takes each student’s unique goals, interests, and needs into account and creates effective lesson plans and activities to accommodate and motivate them to grasp and maintain their attention. She always makes sure that each child receives individualized praise and encouragement insuring that he/she remains motivated and does not become frustrated or quit. Rachel has expertise in a variety of instructional programs and interventions, including Orton-Gillingham, Wilson Fundations, PAF, and Boost as well as Handwriting Without Tears, Judith Hochman’s Teaching Basic Writing Skills, Words Their Way, GoMath, and Everyday Math. Rachel is also experienced with Kindergarten Readiness coaching, including ECAA and AABL preparation, as well as NY State test preparation.

When not teaching, Rachel enjoys going on vacation (especially to tropical islands when it’s cold in New York), cooking, babysitting and spending time with friends.

Laura Cloher

Laura Cloher is a graduate of the University of Maryland where she received her undergraduate degree in Family Studies with a concentration in Early Childhood Education and her Master’s degree in Elementary Education. She teaches elementary school in Silver Spring, MD and privately tutors students at the elementary and middle school levels in the Washington, DC area.

Teaching is a passion for Laura and she strives to meet students’ goals, both academically and socially. Because her students’ success is important to her, she creates a learning atmosphere that respects and enhances each individual’s diverse personality and learning styles. Since each learner is unique, her teaching strategies are constantly changing to match her pupil’s speciﬁc needs. Laura does an amazing job of building solid educational relationships with all of her students. She has had experiences working with students PreK to fifth grade with various learning disabilities including ADD/ADHD, Autism, speech impairments, and students who are developmentally delayed. Laura is the 2012 Marian Greenblatt award winner for Scholarly Excellence and Commitment to Students with Diverse Needs in Montgomery County Public Schools.

Always aware of good health and ﬁtness, Laura established Girls On The Run (GOTR) at her school. In addition to her teaching, Laura is dedicated to running and has completed 17 marathons. She believes her training keeps her focused and motivated to continually try her best and excel at what she does. Laura takes this mentality into her teaching with the mantra “Never Give Up!”

In her spare time, Laura enjoys swimming, practicing yoga and reading.

Jennifer Epstein

Jennifer Cody Epstein is a novelist, journalist, and writing consultant who lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her fiction—The Madwomen of Paris (Ballantine, 2023), Wunderland (Ballantine, 2019), The Gods of Heavenly Punishment (W.W. Norton, 2012), and The Painter from Shanghai (W.W. Norton, 2007)—has been published in 21 countries to date, awarded the Honor Prize for Fiction by the Asian Pacific Association of Librarians, and longlisted for the Simpson/Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize. She has also been awarded writing residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hedgebrook, and the Catwalk Arts Institute.

Jennifer has an M.F.A. in fiction from Columbia University and a Masters of International Relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS. She did her undergraduate work at Amherst College, where she graduated magna cum laude with a double degree in English and Asian Studies. In addition to writing fiction, she has written for LitHub, BookRiot, McSweeney’s, Tablet, Knight-Ridder Financial News, The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Nation (Thailand), Self, and Mademoiselle, and worked at the NBC and HBO networks; jobs that have taken her from Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bangkok to New York. She has taught and advised graduate thesis projects at Columbia University in New York, and worked extensively with primary, middle and high school students in the city, both independently as well as with organizations including the New York-based I Have a Dream program in Chelsea and the New York-based Girls Write Now.

When not researching, writing or teaching, Jennifer can usually be found reading, running (usually to an Audiobook), hiking with her daughters, or spending time with her husband and Mei, their sweet but highly-distractible Springer Spaniel.

Lauren Kelleher

As a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the American College of Education, Lauren Kelleher has had the unique experience of both teaching a variety of age groups and has field experience in the area of music and performing arts. She began her professional career as an opera singer, performing internationally in both American and European cities. While performing is a great passion of Lauren’s, she has found her calling in education. Through her role as an educator and private tutor, Lauren is able to share her love of music and performance with her students, while helping them discover their own artistic talents and interests.

Over the past five years, she has taught music and general education classes in both suburban and urban school districts. She taught kindergarten and first grade at the John F. Kennedy German American School in Berlin, Germany where her talents for immersion instruction, dual language methods and classroom management were fully utilized in an early childhood classroom. She also served as the music specialist for kindergarten to fourth graders. In an encouraging and nurturing environment, Lauren Kelleher instructs her students through an exploration of musical concepts and diverse genres by playing instruments, practicing movement, creating song, and always celebrating the learning through performance. She also believes that music should be fun, it should be engaging, and it should stimulate another part of the brain that can create connections to ideas made from other areas of the child’s learning.

Most recently, Lauren spent the year teaching integrated performing arts for the Middle Years Program at the Lincoln Community School in Accra, Ghana. Through this experience, she offered students an expanded experience in performing techniques in music, drama and movement. She taught students about the elements of music, dance and drama and facilitated opportunities for students to experience and create performances in different forms. Additionally, with passion, she directed the middle school musical Into the Woods, with a West African twist.

Lauren’s educational philosophy stems from a progressive, and hands-on approach to learning that develops the whole child through self-exploration, curiosity and wonderment. Throughout all of Lauren’s teaching experiences, she believes that at the core of her educational philosophy is a growth mindset, where every child can come to learn with a belief in themselves and the comfort of being vulnerable when exploring all aspects of education.

Elizabeth Walters

A graduate of Smith College and Columbia University, Elizabeth Walters draws on years of experience as a writer, editor, certified teacher, writing consultant, and private tutor as she helps students succeed in reading, writing, and standardized tests. As a high scorer herself, with GRE marks in the 96th percentile for Verbal Reasoning and the 97th percentile for Analytical Writing, she knows how rewarding it can be to achieve one’s goals.

Elizabeth holds a BA in English language and literature from Smith and an MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Columbia, where she was awarded a prestigious fellowship to teach University Writing, Columbia’s first-year composition course. Her classes included sections specifically for international students and for students of non-traditional ages and backgrounds. After commencement, she has continued on at Columbia as a consultant in the university’s writing center, which serves both undergraduate and graduate students.

Before starting graduate school, Elizabeth spent several years teaching middle- and high-school English, reading, and standardized test preparation. She has worked with students on all skill levels, from remedial to on-level to honors students, and she has taught children with various exceptionalities, including ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, giftedness, and emotional/behavioral disorders. She has tutored both public and private-school students. She loves individual tutoring because she enjoys being able to customize lessons to help specific learners succeed.

Before becoming a teacher, Elizabeth was a copy editor and reporter at the Concord Monitor, an award-winning newspaper in New Hampshire. She continues to work as a journalist; among the publications that have featured her pieces are the Times-Picayune, the Village Voice and the website of the Washington Post. She brings to her writing instruction her experiences as an editor of thousands of articles and as a coach for thousands of academic essays. She has edited dissertation chapters for students at institutions such as MIT, Columbia, and Washington University in St. Louis, in subjects as varied as inorganic chemistry, law, and forensic anthropology. No matter what the topic or genre, she prizes readability and clarity in writing, and she helps her students develop those qualities in their pieces.

Elizabeth’s favorite pastimes are reading, writing, and editing. She enjoys finding a favorite coffeehouse in each neighborhood where she tutors. She also enjoys playing her violin, hearing live music, walking around the city, and exploring the geography and culture of New York.

Rachel Hirshan

Laura Cloher

Jennifer Epstein

Elizabeth Walters

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