Math (Elementary) Archives

Jose Bladimir Parra

April 7, 2014

Although deeply fond of his native Medellin, Colombia, Jose Bladimir Parra was always in love with American culture, including its traditions, its music, and the English language. He first dreamt about living in the United States when he was twelve-years-old: he thought living in the United States would be the ideal way to learn English. After graduating from the National University of Colombia as an Industrial Engineer, he worked in the engineering field for about eight years before moving to South Florida, where he soon became a family man.

Jose’s journey as an educator and private tutor started more than twelve years ago when he began working as a mathematics and Spanish teacher at a private school in Boca Raton. He truly believes in the importance of establishing a connection with each student, which derives from a genuine interest in his or her learning of mathematics from a real life perspective, and Spanish as an important skill to learn in a global and diverse environment. He also considers it vital to assess students and learn students’ learning styles from interacting with them. He is then able to deliver the appropriate instruction that is tailored to their individual learning needs.

Jose’s goal as an educator is to make a difference in the lives of the students he works with by helping them achieve their learning goals, and helping them to become the kinds of critical thinkers and problem solvers required in today’s demanding and highly competitive society. To accomplish this goal, he maintains constant communication with the student’s first and most important teachers: their parents. He believes that teaching is a team effort oriented to assisting students in the process of developing self-confidence and helping them reach their full potential.

When he is not teaching, Jose enjoys spending time with his wife and children, reading, running, and practicing Taekwondo, a Korean martial art in which he holds a black belt.

Alexandra Cohen-Spiegler

March 3, 2013

Alexandra Cohen-Spiegler has been working as a private tutor for over fifteen years. Alexandra attended high school at Trinity School and the United Nations International School through eighth grade, both in New York City. Coming from a New York City preparatory school background, she perfectly understands the demands made on her students. An actress, she majored in French and Theater at Pomona College, where she received a BA and graduated Cum Laude, with special honors on her French thesis. While in college, Alix spent a year in Paris, studying at the Institut Catholique (French literature) and the Ecole Jacques Lecoq (theater). She also has studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory (New York) and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (London).

Alexandra’s clients have ranged in age from 3 to 65-years-old. She is fluent in French and also excels at teaching English, acting, math through pre-calculus, and standardized test preparation, including the ISEE, SSAT, SHSAT, ACT, and SAT. Alexandra frequently focuses on “filling in the gaps” in her students’ math knowledge, making sure they have strong foundations so they don’t get stuck remembering, for instance, how to work with negative numbers when approaching advanced algebra. She makes a point of bringing in outside resources, including math games and online work, to keep lessons fun and engaging for her students, no matter their age and level. She helps students raise their confidence and ensures they have tools available to problem-solve so they never feel overly reliant on tutoring.

Having lived abroad, Alexandra also teaches English-as-a-second (or third or fourth!) language. Creating lesson plans that are tailor-made to her clients, Alexandra is able to use her varied subject knowledge and students’ unique interests to keep lessons exciting, focusing on reading (at whatever level is appropriate), playing games (including some acting improvisational games) and talking about the student’s native culture as well as American. Alexandra also brings math into her ESL lessons, to remind students that math changes very little across languages and countries and to bring up their confidence levels. She shares family stories and personal anecdotes to help make various points.

A working actress, Alexandra specializes in Shakespeare and in developing new work. Recently, she played the role of Cordelia in a new feature film of King Lear. She studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England and movement-based theater at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France, as well as more traditionally American-based methods at the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York. She combines all three of these methods in her own performances, as well as in her lessons. She focuses primarily on imagination and improvisation-based exercises. She also does monologue coaching, including Shakespearean and contemporary works. She teaches students how to break down a script and create a character from what the playwright has written and then works on bringing that character to three-dimensional life.

Rebecca Sunde

November 24, 2012

Rebecca Sunde began tutoring math when she was 13, and it has been been a passion of hers ever since. When working with her students as a Private Tutor, Rebecca enjoys working with students across a wide range of ages and topics, particularly math, French, and organizational and executive functioning coaching. She especially loves teaching the math sections of standardized tests (SAT, ACT, ISEE, SSAT, SHSAT, and GRE) and test-taking strategies in general. She believes that harnessing a student’s own intuition and logic is the key to mastering a complex subject—rote memorization begone!

Rebecca Sunde earned her Bachelor’s degrees in Organizational Studies and French at the University of Michigan, where she was awarded the Mastery of a Foreign Language Award as well as a scholarship based on her performance in math coursework. She spent her junior year studying art history in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Originally from Augusta, Georgia, and Holland, Michigan, Rebecca moved to Manhattan to work remotely as a full-time research assistant for one of her professors at the University of Michigan. She spent several years conducting historical research in New York’s archives as well as those in Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Paris. The resulting book, American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic by Victoria Johnson, was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Award in Nonfiction and a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in History.

Rebecca also holds an Associate’s degree in Womenswear Fashion Design from Parsons and has interned at several fashion design houses, including Oscar de la Renta and Rosie Assoulin.

In her free time, Rebecca enjoys reading, organizing friends’ apartments, visiting France, learning about nutrition, and practicing yoga and pilates. She lives on the Upper West Side with her husband and dog, a playful Australian Shepherd.

Paley Munn

September 12, 2012

Between New York and Florida, Paley Munn brings over 20 years of experience teaching students with a variety of disabilities. She began her career in Miami-Dade County working with students with severe emotional disturbances as both a classroom teacher and a behavior management specialist. She also participated as a district trainer for Functional Assessment of Behavior (FBA) the year of its inception and beyond.

A move to NYC in 2000 brought on a change of scenery working in private schools as a classroom teacher for students with learning disabilities and then as a learning specialist, one-on-one and in small groups. Paley taught at York Preparatory, Winston Preparatory, and the Churchill School in Manhattan. After several years she ventured into private practice, continuing her work as a learning specialist, as well as homeschooling terminally ill students, consulting on behavior and organization within students’ homes and the school environment, tutoring students in a variety of subjects from writing to Biology to SAT/ACT preparation, and shadowing and supporting students within an early childhood environment.

In 2009, Paley returned to South Florida as an ESE Specialist, ESOL Coordinator, and Guidance Counselor at a charter school in Broward County. She also taught Middle School English-Language Arts. Currently, she works as an ESE Specialist and Team Leader for a Special Education program within a High School in Broward County. Paley is enjoying her venture into administration: mentoring both students and other educators, maintaining legal compliance, and managing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and evaluations.

Paley is a graduate of Tulane University with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. She received her Master’s degree in Human Relations at New York Institute of Technology majoring in mental health and addictions counseling. Her work as an addictions counselor introduced her to the world of education, where she learned that many of her adolescent clients were High School dropouts. She decided to take her work to a more proactive environment, to the schools where these adolescents were previously enrolled in order to reduce the drop out rate. She found herself teaching in inner city Miami when she decided to go back to school to earn her second Master’s degree in Special Education from Florida International University. Paley graduated with honors and was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi honor society.

Paley brings to My Learning Springboard expertise in both learning and behavior, and she is able to tutor across many disciplines – writing, reading comprehension, mathematics, science, organization, critical thinking, study skills, and SAT/ACT preparation. Her experience has honed her skills in understanding learning styles so that she can identify student’s areas of strength, and work with them to utilize these strengths to compensate for the areas in which they struggle. She is also able to work with families to develop organized study and homework areas within their home, as well as developing behavioral goals and setting up programs for reaching these goals. With her older students, she excels at working with them to self-advocate. While she specializes in working with students with Specific Learning Disabilities or diagnosed Emotional Challenges, she also works with typical learners who may be struggling or need bolstering.

When she isn’t tutoring, Paley enjoys reading, spending time with friends and family, working out, and experimenting with healthy cooking and baking gluten free treats.

Samantha Lazar

April 13, 2012

Samantha Lazar is a graduate of Columbia University’s Teachers College where she received her degree in Early Childhood Education, including Students with Disabilities. She draws on her domestic and international teaching and tutoring experiences to create a fun and engaging learning environment for her students. Samantha believes in partnering with families and other professionals, such as psychologists, classroom teachers, or learning specialists, to create a collaborative and cohesive academic support system for children. Most importantly, she builds a strong rapport with students by teaching through their strengths, which encourages the confidence necessary to tackle new learning challenges.

Samantha has extensive experience teaching a diverse group of elementary students from a wide range of backgrounds and varying ability levels. She spent a year teaching elementary school English at a public school in South Korea, expanding her knowledge of language and literacy development.

Upon returning to the U.S., Samantha began teaching in the New York City public school system, adapting the Common Core Standards for unique learners, using a variety of materials and strategies to provide targeted support for students. She has spent over five years teaching K-2 in both general and special education settings, and is currently teaching second grade in a Gifted and Talented program on the Lower East Side.

Samantha is trained in a wide range of math and literacy programs, including: TERC Investigations, Everyday Math, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, PAF Reading Intervention (an Orton-Gillingham based program), Handwriting Without Tears, Wilson’s Fundations, Fountas and Pinnell’s Benchmark Assessment System, and more.

In addition to working with elementary school learners, Samantha has worked with preschool and kindergarten aged students to foster key skills necessary to succeed in a classroom setting. This includes building independence, following multi-step instructions, developing executive functions, sustained attention, sequencing, and interpersonal relations, along with strengthening fundamental numeracy and literacy skills.

In her spare time, Samantha enjoys traveling, reading, spending time with friends and family, and volunteering with animal rescue organizations across New York City.

Jose Bladimir Parra

Alexandra Cohen-Spiegler

Rebecca Sunde

Paley Munn

Samantha Lazar

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