C.K. Elner Tutoring: About the Lessons

How It Works

Sharp pencil resting by a blank sheet of paper

I meet Ann Arbor students in their homes or at coffee shops, parks, or libraries. For students in other parts of the country, I use Zoom or Google Meet to conduct online lessons. During our first meeting, we'll discuss your academic goals and create a plan for our future work together. The lessons themselves vary, from demanding study sessions to playful math games and creative writing activities.

Elementary Math

Pennies covered in colorful number stickers — The Penny Games—Simple pennies and coding labels transform into dozens of unique math games.

These brightly colored manipulatives are popular with my younger students. I use them—along with cards, dice, and dominoes—to create unique math games adapted to the specific skills each child needs to master. Whether we're racing the clock to build the tallest "fact tower" or staging an all-out war between "Factors" and "Multiples," these hands-on games supplement more traditional pen-and-paper lessons and make the concepts memorable.

I regularly tutor both struggling and gifted students. With both groups, I work on establishing strong foundations of key concepts and facts coupled with challenge problems that develop students' curiosity and tenacity in face of the unknown.

Prealgebra, Algebra 1, Geometry

Blackboard with diagram of Pythagorean Theorem — I spent a year studying Greek geometry in college. Needless to say, I'm a fan of the Pythagorean Theorem.

In middle school and high school, math becomes more abstract, and many students struggle with new concepts like negative numbers, ratios, and functions. I take a three-pronged approach to keep students on track. First, we fill in any gaps in their foundational understanding. Second, we make sure they have a strong grasp of the material they are currently working on in class. Finally, we move ahead of their classmates and focus on material they haven't seen yet, so that when it does come up in class, they feel confident in their abilities. Throughout, my goal is to help students embrace increasing levels of complexity as they learn to move beyond mere formulas to a deeper understanding.

English

A tree diagram illustrating the writing process. — A visual metaphor for the writing process: an organic movement from the many concrete details of initial brainstorming (the "roots"), to the one abstract idea of the central thesis (the "trunk"), back to the many concrete details of the fully realized paragraphs (the "branches and "leaves").

I tutor English to students at the later-elementary to postgraduate levels. I love to share my passion for reading, writing, and exploring ideas. As a certified English teacher at the secondary level, I am particularly experienced in developing curriculum at the middle school and high school levels.

Most of my lessons involve critical reading, writing, and grammar. When working on reading, I challenge my students with demanding texts that frame and juxtapose big ideas. As we read through these works together, I teach my students techniques to analyze the literary elements and larger concepts embedded in the text. When working on writing, we focus on the whole process, from the playfulness and insight of brainstorming, to the careful attention to structure and style when revising. As for grammar, I'm something of a traditionalist. I teach my students the parts of speech, the difference between an independent and subordinate clause (very useful for understanding comma rules!), and the basic rules that will help them deftly navigate written conventions.

Test Prep

Colorful hand-made passports with math equations — There's a lot not to like about standardized tests. If approached correctly, however, many of these tests can feel like a game—a game designed by very intelligent people. I encourage my students to get into the test-makers' heads to understand the logic behind the right answer.

Test prep can help students master content, think more flexibly, and achieve their academic and career goals. I have prepared students for a variety of tests including:

Common Core State Test (3rd grade—8th grade)
NY High School Regents Exams (Algebra 1, English)
TASC (math, writing)
SHSAT (Specialized High School Admissions Test, verbal, math)
ISEE (The Independent School Entrance Exam)
SCAT (elementary gifted-and-talented admissions test)
AP Exams (World History, European History, Language and Composition)
SAT (verbal, quantitative, writing)
GRE (verbal, quantitative, writing)

Other Subjects

STUDY SKILLS: If a student has strong study skills, they can master anything—without me! My goal is to teach my students the skills they need to become self-sufficient learners. This includes a variety of strategies to help them stay organized, stay alert in class, retain more information, take effective notes, manage their time, edit and proofread their work, and set manageable long- and short-term goals.

HISTORY/HUMANITIES: Although I am not a content specialist in history, I have helped students to master a variety of history and humanities classes, including AP World History, American History, and Modern European History. I usually focus these lessons on critical reading, essay writing (DBQ, LEQ, etc.), and study skills.

HOMESCHOOLING: Designing homeschooling curriculum requires rigor and creativity. Depending on each family's philosophy, I use the Common Core or other curriculum as a framework to ensure we cover essential content. Then anything's possible! With one homeschool student, I taught chemistry with candied apples and history with scavenger hunts throughout the various neighborhoods of New York City.

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