Social Studies Archives

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.

Emma Kash

October 10, 2022

Emma Kash always dreamed of having her own classroom as a child and looked up to her elementary school teachers. She made those dreams come true after graduating in 2014 from Keene State College, in Keene, NH, with Bachelor of Science degrees in elementary and special education, and a third major in English. She received her NCATE accredited certification from the state of New Hampshire in elementary education for grades K-6 and special education for grades K-12.

After graduation, Emma moved back to her hometown near Albany, New York, and received her NYS certification in childhood education for grades 1-6 as well as teaching students with disabilities for grades 1-6. Shortly after, she began long-term substituting as a special educator in the Albany area. By 2015, Emma decided to fulfill another dream of hers and move to NYC, where she joined the Department of Education and has worked as a special educator in grades K-5 for the last 7 years. During the first year, Emma worked in Mill Basin, Brooklyn as a kindergarten teacher and Special Education Teacher Support Services provider for kindergarten and 1st grade students. From there, she moved to teach in Harlem at P.S. 123, Mahalia Jackson School, as a 2^nd grade special education teacher in an inclusion classroom (ICT). In 2017, she moved to P.S. 124, Yung Wing Elementary, in Chinatown. At P.S. 124, she has taught grades 3-5 as a special educator in the inclusion classrooms (ICT). Emma has many years of experience working with students with ADHD, students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), students with speech and language-based learning disabilities, and students with a variety of other learning challenges. Through her work as a special educator and learning specialist, she has taught lessons and skill building focused on developing executive functions, along with modifying the academic curriculum to fit the needs of her students.

Emma Kash regularly engages in professional development. In 2022, Emma was trained in grading the NYS ELA test and has since graded 3^rd through 5^th grade assessments. This experience was especially useful in her classroom as well as her private tutoring in order to incorporate test preparation into her teaching. Emma is also trained in the Wilson Intervention Program, which included the Fundations and Just Words programs. These Orton-Gillingham based programs help students with phonics and word work, including a variety of multisensory decoding strategies. Emma also attended Social Emotional Learning (SEL) professional development and has joined her school RULER team, which promotes incorporating social-emotional learning and strategies into schools and communities. Though Emma specializes in literacy and word work, she has successfully implemented NYC math curricula while teaching in the elementary school setting. For several years, Emma has been using the SAVVAS Realize Investigations Math curriculum, aligned with Common Core Standards. In the past, she used Go Math and prior to that has used Engage NY Math, Eureka Math, and IXL Learning.

Recently, Emma has been attending SUNY Oneonta through a remote Master of Education program in literacy education. By the Spring of 2023, Emma will graduate with a Master of Education degree in literacy education and will apply for certification in literacy. Another goal for Emma is to one day help other educators best improve their literacy teaching strategies and support students with literacy needs.

When Emma is not teaching, she is enjoying cooking at home in Astoria, Queens with friends and traveling the world. Emma seeks to inspire her students to follow their hopes and dreams by expanding on her own.

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!

Bobby Irven

September 7, 2020

Bobby Irven is a private tutor who specializes in Mandarin Chinese, ESL, the humanities, virtual learning, research and special education. He is also proficient in a variety of digital design and communications software, as well as recently leveraging online and application based tools to collaborate, learn and communicate. He has traveled and worked around the world, and currently works at a large international nonprofit doing communications for the poverty eradication team. He has over a decade of experience working with students of all ages in small classroom settings and private tutoring.

Bobby Irven earned his B.A. in Chinese Studies and Political Science at Rutgers University, and then continued his education, receiving an M.A. in International Development from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and conducted his thesis research in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

He is passionate about bringing a unique teaching style to each student interaction in order to ensure no one is left behind, and has worked with a wide variety of students, from recently arrived refugees to children with special needs. Bobby Irven loves combining new or alternative resources to complement traditional methods. This includes sessions or a focus on executive functioning: ensuring students are using the tools, technology and resources available to succeed in and out of the classroom.

When he is not traveling around the world to various work field sites or helping his students, Bobby enjoys playing competitive volleyball, advocating for social justice, scuba diving, and learning new languages and cultures. You might even catch him in a dance class or two!

Dan Muro

September 7, 2020

Dan Muro is a private tutor who specializes in social studies, language arts, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Dan grew up in New Jersey, where he attended The Pingry School from kindergarten through 12th grade. In High School, he was an honor roll student and frequent discussion leader in class, particularly in his favorite subjects: biology, English, Spanish, and political science. Outside of the classroom, Dan was a competitive swimmer and a founding member of the Coffeehouse Society, which organized open-mic nights for the school’s student artists. He also worked as a camp counselor at the Montclair Yard School of Art’s summer camp.

After graduating from Pingry, Dan Muro attended Wesleyan University, where he earned his B.A. in anthropology. A native speaker of Portuguese, Dan had the opportunity to share his love of Brazilian culture and language as a course assistant for beginner and intermediate Portuguese, facilitating group tutoring sessions and providing individually tailored support to students. He also worked as a woodshop monitor, teaching student artists how to properly and safely operate heavy machinery and tools. His sophomore year, Dan designed his own study abroad program in São Paulo, Brazil, where he conducted ethnographic and archival research with an architecture office supporting community-led housing initiatives and design processes.

Dan Muro currently works as a writer and consultant for cultural institutions, such as The Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University, Philadelphia Contemporary, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum. As one of the founding team members of DVDL Design Decisions, a boutique consultancy, Dan assisted in the design of new education, curatorial, and space design strategies for world-class museums.

Dan draws on his patience, listening skills, and love of learning, as well as his real-world problem-solving experience, to meet each student where they are. He offers support tailored to each student’s needs on test-taking strategies, reading comprehension and analysis, integrating new concepts into their intellectual toolkit, and problem-solving tactics across subjects.

When he is not teaching or tutoring, Dan can be found reading poetry and old urban planning documents, writing songs with friends, or enjoying the outdoors.

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