Math (Elementary) Archives

Zachary Brewer

April 15, 2016

Zachary Brewer is a private tutor specializing in elementary and middle school math, writing for all ages, and technology. With over 15 years of experience in education, he brings a hands-on, interdisciplinary approach to tutoring that helps students connect core academic skills to creative, real-world applications. Zach is also a coder and curriculum designer with a growing focus on generative AI. He is currently developing instructional materials on prompt engineering and exploring how to teach students to use AI tools for research, creative work, and strategic planning.

Zach currently teaches 4th grade math at Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy II, a role that blends his passion for rigorous academics with his commitment to educational equity. Prior to this, he served for over a decade as the Educational Technology Specialist at Corlears School, an independent elementary school in New York City. There, he designed and implemented a comprehensive PreK–5 technology curriculum that integrated digital literacy and creative problem-solving into every subject. His students explored math by programming interactive art, studied science through animation projects, and developed writing and storytelling skills by producing their own short films.

Earlier in his career, Zach worked as a math enrichment teacher at P.S. 85 in the Bronx, where he created Math Art, a visual, project-based curriculum for grades 2–4. The activities in Math Art helped students build fluency with key math concepts while also nurturing creativity and confidence. Zach later self-published the curriculum as a book, which has sold over 6,000 copies and is used by teachers around the country.

Outside the classroom, Zach enjoys hiking and camping, photography, and playing 1960s and ’70s pop songs on the piano.

Matthew Serra

August 29, 2015

Matthew Serra

Matthew Serra is a private tutor, former Spanish teacher, ethnomusicologist, audio engineer, and flamenco guitarist. Matthew currently resides in Sevilla, Spain, where he studies flamenco guitar at Artes Escénicas Rebollar, a premier flamenco academy. He holds a Master of Arts in Music from Durham University, from which he graduated with distinction, and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Pittsburgh. Matthew also holds Bachelor’s degrees in Music and Spanish (summa cum laude, Allegheny College), and Music Technology (City College, CUNY). Matthew has carried out research projects on the relationship between flamenco performers’ identity and personal style, flamenco’s cultural/musical/literary heritage, and the effects of specific reinforcement schema on target language use and motivation in the foreign language classroom.

Matthew loves the opportunity to work directly with students of all ages and levels. He is enthusiastic about using the tutoring relationship as a medium for helping students to become the versions of themselves they most want to be. Matthew is experienced in teaching Spanish, English, executive function coaching (organizational and study skills), test preparation, creative writing, and even guitar, but he is also passionate about teaching math, science, language arts, and elementary education. Matthew has also worked with students on the autism spectrum as a therapeutic staff support and volunteered in a children’s grief support group. Matthew believes that learning can be fun, teaching should be engaging, and every subject has significance. He is an incredibly creative and engaging teacher who loves to teach through both traditional and immersive methods.

In his free time, Matthew enjoys studying flamenco, composing music, listening to psychology podcasts, reading in Spanish and French, and spending time outdoors.

Emily Andrews

August 26, 2015

Emily Andrews is an Early Childhood Learning Specialist.

She works as an independent consultant at a variety of private preschools as well as working one-on-one with children and families as a private tutor and parent coach.

She visits children in their homes and in their classrooms to observe, play, and make suggestions to their teachers and parents regarding how best to support their developing learning skills.

Emily has worked at a variety of early childhood settings in New York City for over ten years and has had a variety of roles ranging from a classroom teacher, a SEIT, a program director, and a consultant. She has unique program development experience having helped launch both an afters chool program and an inclusion preschool and has insights as to what skills a child may need to strengthen in order to thrive in a variety of educational settings.

Emily received a dual Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and Special Education from Bank Street College in 2007. In 2010, Emily was honored to be selected as one of 12 individuals for Bank Street’s Autism Annotation program, a U.S. federal fellowship that focused on deepening one’s preparation to work with student’s on the autism spectrum. Emily is passionate about supporting all children’s learning and classroom readiness skills, including: attention, executive functioning, social cognition, and most importantly CONFIDENCE. She believes that children acquire these skills most successfully when they are introduced through individualized play techniques that draw upon the child’s true interests and strengths.

Emily is also a parent to a lively and charming two year old girl!

Nicole DeMartino

July 20, 2015

Nicole DeMartino wanted to become a teacher since she was a child. Now she exclusively works as a Private Educator working 1:1 with students, and she is a skillful Learning Specialist cross-trained in a variety of curricula and interventions, including Orton-Gillingham based curricula. Previously, she was a classroom teacher at PS 172 in Brooklyn, a model inclusion school, where she joined the faculty in 2013. Before that, she taught at the Parkside School on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She received her B.A. at the University of Miami in 2009, with a double major in elementary education and Spanish language, and continued her education at NYU, earning her Master’s degree in Childhood Special Education.

Nicole DeMartino has experience teaching and tutoring a diverse group of students from many backgrounds and with varying abilities. In Miami, she completed her student teaching experience in a 2nd grade general education classroom and assumed all roles and responsibilities of the classroom teacher. While studying at NYU, Nicole did her student teaching in a 1st grade CTT classroom at P.S. 261 in Brooklyn and in a 5th grade self-contained classroom at The Parkside School on the Upper West Side. After developing a strong, positive relationship with Parkside, Nicole was offered a full-time teaching position as a 2nd grade teacher. She believes that all students learn differently and, therefore, she uses a variety of materials, methodologies, and targeted support to differentiate her instruction.

In her free time, Nicole enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, seeing movies, and spending time with family and friends in NYC and on Long Island.

Rachel Hirshan

July 10, 2015

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.

Matthew Serra

Rachel Hirshan

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