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"Why is writing so hard?"
Writing encompasses everything from coming up with ideas, planning, understanding the purpose of an assignment, shaping paragraphs, assembling sentences, to staying focused--down to the last spell-check.
I want to help learners of every age find greater ease in self-expression, whether writing a college application essay, generating a paper of literary analysis, or studying vocabulary. I want them to become stronger readers, writers, thinkers.
When I get to know new families, I strive to understand their goals, and I develop strategies to strengthen skills for every student. Whenever possible, I love to tailor the materials to their interests.
In addition to overall language arts and humanities studies, I support students with language-based learning challenges, including dyslexia and dysgraphia. To better serve all learners, I studied Wired for Reading, a kid-friendly linguistics program designed to strengthen reading, spelling, and vocabulary.
Past elementary school, few schools continue to focus on writing fundamentals. So for many students, with all kinds of minds, a structured approach, beginning at the sentence level, is the place to start.
Before becoming a mentor for writing and learning, I worked as a journalist and writer for Microsoft and other Seattle-area ventures. As a writer, I tell stories through a human lens, designed to make businesses grow and individual lives better.
Bringing together my professional background in communications and my passion for lifelong learning, I encourage a skill-based, conversational writing and thinking process with time-tested tools, craft, and heart.
Whether your focus is remediation, enrichment, or a college application essay, I'm happy to be a resource.
michelle.writingmentor@gmail.com
On Sunday morning, it's time for yoga church.At 8 Limbs Yoga Center in West Seattle, 35-55 students attend a class called bhakti yoga, described by owner and studio director Anne Phyfe Palmer as having a "devotional, heart-centered" approach. At the studio's flagship location on Capitol Hill, 25-40 people attend a similar class.
An exploration of writing, teaching, and the next generation
A report by the McKinsey Global Institute found that in the U.S. alone, by 2018, there will be 1.5 million jobs that require data analysis skills. As big data continues to grow, the industry needs people who have the quantitative chops to dig in, make sense of it, and make it actionable.
Building the Periodic Table of Elements
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When I'm on Twitter, sometimes I have to refocus my eyes to fix on its assembly of hash tags, "at signs," and emoticons. But amid the punctuation gone wild, writers can find a haven, innovation, and heart. What makes a certain tweet memorable, retweetable-and what does it mean to succeed?
Musical theatre can change our culture. It can mold our lives.
When Wendy Zieve visits Forrest Neander of North Seattle, she comes equipped with a bag of tricks: drums, xylophones, hoops, ribbons and more. During each session, Zieve, a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC), uses tuneful tactics to engage 5-year-old Forrest, who has cerebral palsy and is nonverbal.
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With a smartphone in hand, todays consumers hold a global shopping mall in their pocket. Learn how to stay competitive in the digital era.
Take a quick peek. Thanks for reading!
October is an ideal time for us to recognize the contributions of women at Microsoft. With Grace Hopper going on this week, we're celebrating women in technology and business. We recently featured Sarah Filman, a Senior PM Lead for Microsoft OneDrive, who is attending this sold-out conference.
The digital economy is driving a virtuous cycle where connected devices and cloud-powered services are generating data as never before.