Executive Function; Organizational & Study Skills Archives

Amy Mitchell

September 2, 2022

Amy Mitchell is an experienced Private Tutor and mentor with a strong background in both academics and student guidance. A graduate of Cornell University’s Charles H. Dyson School, she earned a BS in Applied Economics and Management with a minor in Communications. While at Cornell, Amy co-founded a nonprofit addressing educational achievement gaps and participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters, mentoring local middle and high school students.

Born and raised in Stamford, CT, Amy attended King and Low-Heywood Thomas School, now called the King School. With a strong aptitude for mathematics, she actively participated in the high school’s math team for all four years and served as a teacher’s assistant for freshman and sophomore algebra classes during her junior year.

Amy pursued her undergraduate education at Cornell’s undergraduate business school, earning a BS in Applied Economics and Management with a minor in Communications. While on campus, she channeled her passion for education by co-founding a nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing the educational achievement gap. Additionally, Amy contributed to the university’s “Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS)” chapter, engaging with local middle and high school students to impart knowledge about campus life and culture.

Her commitment to BBBS extended beyond graduation when she joined the New York City chapter, where she was matched with a high school mentee. Amy continued this mentorship experience until her mentee successfully graduated from the program and high school, eventually earning both an undergraduate and master’s degree from Syracuse University. Throughout this period, Amy not only guided her mentee through the college application process but also played a pivotal role in her personal development, fostering a unique and enduring friendship.

Amy’s professional journey began as a financial analyst at a management consulting firm, followed by a position at a global bank. After a few years in the corporate world, Amy shifted her focus to her long-standing passion for dance. She now actively teaches, choreographs, and performs, sharing her love of movement and artistic expression with students and audiences alike.

Subject Matter Expertise for Private Tutoring: Remedial Math, Algebra I & II, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, Economics, Standardized Test Preparation across all sections, including the ISEE, SAT, & ACT

Charlotte Harary-Shechtman

August 24, 2022

Charlotte Harary-Shechtman’s passion for working with children began from an early age. She is excited when she gets to guide students into reaching a level of self-efficacy in order to enhance learning and confidence. Charlotte believes in connecting to each child she works with and the importance of trust in the teacher-student relationship. Doing so creates a safe space for the child to ask questions and learn with comfort. She works to foster a greater understanding of the student’s unique capabilities and needs. She believes in building on students’ strengths in order to help them overcome their challenges. Encouraging the growth mindset is cultivated through the language she uses, instilling the belief in every child that they have the potential to succeed.

After much experience working with children, she strongly believes in differentiating instruction according to an individual’s learning needs and supporting their learning style. Adapting to a curriculum and creating strategies to better process information is one of her strengths. She incorporates unique ways for students to learn by tapping into the visual and kinesthetic components of a lesson and having the children learn in an experiential and hands-on way.

Charlotte Harary-Shechtman received a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and Special Education from CUNY Brooklyn College. She went on to achieve her Master’s degree in Childhood Special Education from Bank Street College of Education and graduated in 2019 while also obtaining her professional license.

For the past 10 years, Charlotte has been working with children of all ages. Over time, she worked in summer day camp, a variety of public and private schools as well as one to one tutoring. She worked as an assistant teacher in a classroom of three year olds for two years at Bean Sprouts Preschool in Park Slope. Most recently, Charlotte taught at The Shefa School, a school for students with language based learning challenges. During her time there, she worked with students ranging from 1st to 5th grade. She led a homeroom class of 13 students teaching lessons related to Social Emotional Learning, Judaic Studies, and writing while simultaneously teaching her own reading and math groups. Additionally, she worked with a team to develop curricula and modify lessons to ensure her students received the instruction that best suited their needs. Charlotte has worked with many evidence-based practices including Writing Revolution (formerly known as the Hochman method), PAF (Preventing Academic Failure), an Orton-Gillingham based program, Jump Math and Marilyn Zecher’s Multisensory Math & More program. Helping students learn how to set goals for one’s self, plan, prioritize, organize and multitask, are some skills Charlotte brings to the table in conjunction with her adaptation to lessons.

When she isn’t engaged in the education world, Charlotte enjoys spending her time with family, friends and being active. Exercising, playing tennis, and being outdoors, are some of her favorites. Charlotte is a lifelong learner who continues to educate herself on developing, preparing and instructing individualized curricula for students with learning differences.

Laura Yumi Snell

July 14, 2021

A graduate of Harvard University and UC Davis, Laura Yumi Snell has two decades of experience teaching and motivating students of all ages to help them achieve their goals. Growing up bilingual, Laura attended schools both in the US and in Japan, and she draws on her diverse educational background to hand-pick the best pedagogical methods that align with each student’s learning needs.

Laura teaches English, Japanese, writing, math, and ACT/SAT prep as a private tutor, in classrooms, and in corporate settings. Her students have attended top private and public schools in the prestigious NYC school system, and most have been accepted into the universities of their choice, including Ivy League schools and elite international institutions. She’s especially proud of her students with learning challenges who worked extra hard to get into their dream schools.

Simultaneously passionate and patient, Laura offers her students a creative, innovative approach to learning that guides them to think for themselves, giving them the skills and confidence they need to excel in all subjects. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes both the discipline required for learning something new and the importance of finding joy and excitement throughout the process. If a student can make a game out of studying, they’re much more likely to make it a healthy lifelong habit!

Before she was a tutor, Laura Yumi Snell had an artistic career as a classical pianist, performing and competing around the world from a very young age. She learned how to balance schoolwork, rehearsals, and extracurriculars by the time she was in middle school, all while managing performance anxiety. Students find her relaxation, mindfulness, and focus-building exercises to be extremely effective as they prepare for standardized tests and college admissions. As a master scheduler, Laura helps students develop organizational skills that they can implement throughout their lives.

Laura Yumi Snell holds a Master’s degree in Acting from Harvard University (with a research abroad certificate from the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia) and Bachelor’s degrees in Music and Dramatic Arts from UC Davis, where she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Golden Key honor societies. Laura received a full scholarship thanks to her zest for learning that yielded high standardized test scores (perfect scores on SAT Math, SAT II Writing & Japanese), her passion for the arts and community engagement, and her hard-earned International Baccalaureate diploma. She also took coursework in pre-veterinary medicine and worked as a veterinary technician for two years.

When Laura isn’t teaching, she’s usually acting on screen/stage and producing theatre through SoHo Shakespeare Company. She also loves doting on her rescue dog Diamond, writing silly screenplays, and baking chewy snickerdoodles (which she usually shares with her students). An avid traveler, her dream is to visit all seven continents and to become a polyglot along the way.

Amanda Friedman

September 13, 2020

Amanda Friedman is currently a full time private educator who creates individualized lesson plans tailored to students interests and needs so they can reach their academic potential. Formerly, Amanda spent five years as a literacy specialist at Avenues: The World School at their New York Campus. She worked specifically with first and second grade students and coached classroom teachers in reading, writing workshops and the Orton-Gillingham Method. Prior to Avenues, Amanda spent eight years teaching public school in the Bronx. She began her career teaching fourth grade for four years and then taught as a special education teacher support services provider. While in this role, Amanda provided academic support and developed individualized education plans for students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade.

During her time in the Bronx and at Avenues, Amanda mentored and coached younger teachers and formed close bonds with teachers, families and school staff. She learned how to reach all students regardless of the number of students in the class, by individualizing instruction and making every lesson as fun as possible.

Prior to her work in the Bronx, Amanda Friedman received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Social Work. She then earned her Master’s Degree in Childhood and Special Education and Literacy from Touro College. Additionally she has a certificate in early childhood ages birth through grade 2 and is trained in the Orton-Gillingham Method. She spent a summer teaching elementary school in South Africa and had 45 students in her class. Amanda truly enjoys teaching, which is always evident in her lessons.

Szasha Ozard

September 12, 2020

As a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University, Szasha Ozard draws on years of experience as a historian, Peace Corps volunteer, youth empowerment coach, certified Social Studies teacher, and research advisor to build confidence in her students and empower them to reach personal and academic success through private tutoring. She is passionate about bringing history alive by engaging with student interests and life experiences as a bridge to allow learners to draw meaningful connections between the past, themselves, and the modern world. Szasha works to help her students understand the events of the past and to achieve mastery of historical thinking and analytical writing skills. This allows learners to not only engage in the authentic work of historians and conduct successful research but to grow in their capacity as analytical global citizens.

Szasha Ozard holds a Master’s degree in the teaching of Social Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University and currently teaches 9th and 10th grade Global History as well as a 12th grade independent research seminar within the New York City Department of Education. She has taught in fully inclusive ICT special education classroom settings, differentiating instruction to meet the diverse needs of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), as well as in general education and advanced placement classrooms. She has vast experience preparing students to excel on the NYS Regents Exam in Global History and Geography as well as providing enrichment for advanced learners. Szasha guides 12th graders through a college level independent history research and writing seminar culminating in a final paper and school-wide presentation. Students are given the opportunity to respond to rigorous questions in defense of their research, modeling the process of researching, writing, and defending a history thesis at a college level.

As a 9th-12th grade advisor, Szasha Ozard also provides individualized socio-emotional and academic support. These supports include: coaching in study and organizational skills, assistance with strategies to improve executive functioning, and health and wellness check-ins focused on stress management and youth advocacy. She builds these same supports into her tutoring sessions.

Before becoming a Social Studies teacher, Szasha Ozard earned her B.A. in History from the University of California, Berkeley, where she developed her passion for research — a passion she now works to foster in her students. After graduating, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English as a Foreign Language in the African nations of both Cape Verde and Mozambique. During her Peace Corps service, Szasha realized her calling for not only teaching, but youth empowerment. She brings both her global perspective and dedication to individual youth capacity building into her current teaching and tutoring practice.

In her free time, Szasha enjoys running, traveling, and working in her backyard organic vegetable garden. She has run several marathons and has trekked to both the base camp of Mount Everest and the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. At home, Szasha spends as much time as possible training her exuberant Australian Shepherd puppy who is always eager to learn new tricks!

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Amy Mitchell

Charlotte Harary-Shechtman

Laura Yumi Snell

Amanda Friedman

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