Executive Function; Organizational & Study Skills Archives

Pamela Slifer

December 7, 2023

With a strong passion for educating all students according to their abilities, Pamela Slifer adapts her teaching style to the unique needs of each student.

Pam has had a lifelong affinity towards teaching and working with children and knew her calling upon entering college. Beginning as an undergrad, Pam worked towards a dual degree masters in both special and elementary education. As a central part of her training, she observed and assisted with cooperating teachers within several New Jersey public schools.

After initially working in some other educational institutions, in 2016, Pam began working in her current role at a school for students with language-based learning disabilities. Over the past 8 years, she has taught 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade children. Pam’s training is multi-faceted having trained in Heggerty, a phonemic awareness program that sets the foundation for a child’s ability to manipulate sounds. Additionally, she is trained in PAF, an Orton Gillingham-based program to teach reading. For math, she has learned with Marilyn Zecher, who created a multisensory math program to complement common core aligned math curricula. She was also trained in Judy Hochman’s The Writing Revolution, an evidence-based program that takes students from just writing sentences to composing paragraphs, helping them to write in a coherent and structured manner.

In addition to her classroom experience, Pam has done extensive private tutoring for students in 1st through 5th grades in reading, writing, and math. Pam has broad experience with reading neuropsychological evaluations in order to come up with the best plan for her students. She is passionate about infusing executive function skills into her tutoring work and with the support of her school, has implemented a number of techniques developed by Sarah Ward.

While not teaching, Pam spends her time baking, playing board games, and exploring Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

Olivia Keenan

November 1, 2023

Olivia Keenan is a Senior Research Assistant at Weill Cornell Medicine where she is researching the relationship between urban forestry, heat-related health outcomes, and environmental justice. She has experience tutoring in the humanities and sciences and is therefore happy to help with the verbal sections of standardized tests such as the ACT, SHSAT, and ISEE. As a recent college graduate, Olivia remembers what it is like juggling a busy schedule with schoolwork! So, she is also happy to help students with developing better studying and time management skills.

Olivia Keenan graduated from the University of Virginia as a Jefferson Scholar, which is a prestigious full scholarship awarded to approximately 0.01% of each incoming class. As a student, Olivia led creative writing workshops, community science field work, health education outreach programs, and middle school social science summer courses.

Olivia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Highest Distinction in Biology, which included a final thesis project and scientific presentation of her independent research in plant evolutionary biology. She also has a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Poetry writing, of which she had to write a full-length poetry manuscript as her final project. Olivia has also published a poetry book during her time at UVA, covering themes related to her identity as a Black woman at a Southern university.

Olivia is new to New York City, but is eager to teach and inspire! She would love to help with subjects ranging from: biology, physics, chemistry, English literature, creative writing, statistics, and psychology and enjoys working with students across all ages. She is particularly eager to help students with essay writing for English and other humanities courses.

Olivia is also enthusiastic about the college admissions process! As a Poetry major, she is particularly experienced in creatively writing about oneself, such as in college admissions essays. She recently partook in a UVA admissions panel where she discussed her knowledge about the admissions process with high school students and parents of the tri-state area. As a pre-medical student, she is also available to coach students on pre-medical classes, pre-medical requirements, and MCAT prep.

In her free time, Olivia loves reading, writing poetry, and learning about street trees.

Cameron Skinner

October 12, 2023

Cameron Skinner is a dedicated educator with over ten years of experience working in the education sector. He has traveled the world tutoring students, teaching courses, creating curricula, conducting workshops, observing classrooms, and leading education organizations. He now shares his knowledge, experience, and expertise through his education consultancy, where he works with students and families worldwide.

Cameron has taught multiple grade levels at schools in the United States, Africa, and Europe. Most recently, he served as the Singapore Math Coordinator for PreK through Grade 8 at TASIS Portugal, where he also taught fourth grade and acted as curriculum lead for his grade level. Prior to that, he worked as a teacher and private educator in Colorado, and as an experiential educator for Where There Be Dragons in Senegal and Rwanda. He also served as the Associate Director of Friends of Guéoul, a non-profit that provides scholarships to hundreds of young women in Senegal. In addition, he spent two years in Rwanda as a Peace Corps volunteer, teaching English as a Second Language.

Cameron specializes in teaching math from 3rd through 9th grades and writing from 6th grade through the doctoral level. He also tutors students in the Reading, Writing, and English sections of the SAT and ACT. He is especially adept at teaching Singapore Math and Core Knowledge content. In addition, he has many years of research experience in the Social Sciences.

Cameron earned his B.A. in English from Tufts University, his TEFL certification from the University of Toronto, his iPGCE from the University of Sheffield, and his M.A. in International Education from New York University. He has also completed his certification in IB Mathematics, Applications and Interpretation, Categories 1 and 2. Currently, he is pursuing his coaching certification and a College Counseling Certificate from UCLA to expand the support he offers to students and families.

Daniel Jackson

September 11, 2023

Daniel Jackson graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor’s degree in Dramatic Writing and English. He has edited, tutored, and led workshops for students at a professional level since he graduated in 2012.

For over a decade, Daniel worked as a Staff Writer and editor for publications like Thrillist, the College Music Journal, and XXL. As an editor, Daniel collaborated closely with high school and college students to generate compelling ideas, outline their assignments, and discover their own specific voice on the page. When working with students, he emphasizes structure on a sentence-to-sentence level while encouraging curiosity, passion, and empathy in the brainstorming phase. His teaching style involves harnessing creative impulses, tapping into outside interests in a variety of disciplines, and tailoring lessons to the needs of the individual student.

As a writing coach and tutor, he looks forward to working with students on sharpening their executive functioning skills, polishing their college admission essays and research papers, and improving their reading and writing standardized test scores. Using open-ended questions and careful listening, he helps students build habits and acquire techniques that demystify the writing process. He believes strong writing emerges from close reading, focussed research, and genuine introspection.

As a freelance journalist, Daniel has written for New York Magazine’s Vulture, Spin, Frank 121, Esquire, and other publications. More recently, he has worked as a film and TV writer. His feature screenplay Cauliflower, a horror sports drama set in the world of high school wrestling, topped the Blacklist, an annual list of the most-liked unproduced Hollywood screenplays. The script also won the Austin Film Festival’s Horror Feature Screenplay Award and the Grand Prize in the 2021 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition.

Bailey Landow

August 23, 2023

Bailey Landow has loved working with and mentoring students since she was very young. As a 5th grader in New York City, Bailey participated in her school’s buddy program, where she helped a first grader with homework while engaging in recreational activities. This love for working with youth led to an interest in psychology, which transformed into a passion for education and child development.

Bailey is a life-long New Yorker and a graduate of Riverdale Country School. Throughout her undergraduate years at Cornell University, Bailey immersed herself in various tutoring and mentorship positions for both college students and local Ithaca youth.

Upon graduating in 2021 with a BS in Human Development and a minor in Theater, Bailey joined Teach for America as part of the New York Corps. After teaching a third grade summer program in the Bronx, Bailey spent two years at Harlem Link Charter School, where she taught kindergarten in an Integrated Co-Teaching classroom. As a Special Education teacher, Bailey supported students with various learning differences and worked closely with families throughout the IEP process.

While teaching, Bailey obtained her Master’s in Early Childhood Special Education from Relay Graduate School of Education. She is currently working towards her PhD in School Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she researches various school-based interventions, behavior plan implementation, and teacher consultation. This past year, she received her Master’s in Educational Psychology as part of the program.

Bailey has tutored students ages 3-13 in a range of academic subjects, including reading/phonics, writing, and math. She also specializes in Kindergarten Readiness. Her time in the classroom has taught her the importance of differentiation and discovering the “whole child” to best build a collaborative relationship. Further, Bailey understands the importance of data-based decision making, as well as alternative assessment. Bailey has training in Orton-Gillingham methodology, Wilson Fundations, Heggerty, Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments, and the Heart Words sight-word method. She has also completed a year-long Science of Reading professional development course. Additionally, she was trained in reflective listening techniques and crisis intervention, and she was an active volunteer with the Crisis Text Line while at Cornell.

In addition to her wide-ranging elementary aged experiences, Bailey is knowledgeable in high school and college psychology curricula. She was a TA for several courses and tutored college students in psychology throughout her undergraduate years and beyond. She thoroughly enjoys introduction to psychology courses, as well as abnormal psychology and child development classes.

In her free time, Bailey enjoys theater, dance, and spending time with family and friends. You can often find her at a Broadway show or in the audience of one of New York’s many late-night talk shows.

Pamela Slifer

Olivia Keenan

Cameron Skinner

Bailey Landow

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