Does your teen want to become more confident in their reading comprehension and writing?
I'm Rachel Berntsen, a reading comprehension and writing tutor for students in 6th grade and up, and I can help!
Is your teen struggling with their reading comprehension and/or writing? Are they overwhelmed by their assignments? Do they struggle to express their ideas either verbally or in writing? Are they afraid to participate in class discussions?
The Problem
Current Situation
If you have a teen struggling with their reading comprehension, they likely struggle to identify literary elements, find underlying meanings, and maneuver around context clues. If you have a teen struggling with their writing, they likely struggle to transfer their verbal ideas onto paper, structure their essays, and incorporate textual evidence with ease. Perhaps your teen struggles with elements of both, since reading comprehension and writing overlap in many ways.
My Solution
I am here to help your teen improve in both of these areas with my online reading and writing tutoring! Through my personalized lessons, your teen will get better grades, feel more comfortable participating in literary discussions, learn how to engage with texts, write more compelling essays, and become self-sufficient, all with confidence!
What to Expect
What is most important to me is to help your teen reach their full potential in their reading comprehension and writing. I don't want to help your teen simply survive their ELA classes; I want to help them thrive! To do this, I create lesson plans that cater to your individual student's needs and interests.
I read books alongside my students as a way to spark authentic literary discussions, deepen their comprehension, expand their vocabulary, strengthen their ability to analyze a text, and prompt written responses to further express their ideas. Unless they need support with a specific style of text, your teen and I will read books based on their interests and address a variety of academic writing styles for their writing assignments.
Your teen will play an active role in their learning because I give them the element of choice. I provide the options, such as a list of books to choose from or essay topics they can write about, but they have the final say. This will motivate your teen to take more ownership of their growth and to be more engaged with their lessons. Soon enough, as their confidence grows, their ability to read any text and tackle any essay topic will also grow.
Testimonials
Y. Zeng
Rachel has been so wonderful and helpful. She chooses books that are both engaging and age-appropriate, and works on reading skills, writing skills, and vocabulary building all at the same time. She explains things clearly and is extremely organized. My kid has benefited tremendously from her sessions.
L. Cheng
My daughter has been taking Rachel’s class for about a year. Not only does she learn a lot in her class through vocabulary exercises, reading comprehension questions and writing assignments from the books they read, the class is also fun! Rachel’s tutoring class is a great supplement to public school education for kids to improve the grades or stay a bit ahead. She is also nice and patient and kids love her!
W. McCann
Rachel is incredibly patient and very responsive. Working with her is collaborative and she does an amazing job making the essay writing process much less daunting!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is your availability?
I currently work on Mondays from 3:00-6:00pm ET and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9:00am to 8:30pm ET. Please contact me if you'd like to know my availability on a specific day!
How long are your lessons?
I offer 30-minute, 45-minute, and 60-minute lessons, depending on the individual student and their needs.
How much are your lessons?
I charge $1/minute, so 30-minute lessons are $30, 45-minute lessons are $45, and 60-minute lessons are $60.
How does payment work?
For our very first lesson together, I will take your payment info via Stripe and set up a weekly recurring payment for you so your payments will always be on time!
What if I just need someone to proofread my writing?
I'd be happy to proofread your assignment for you! I charge $30/hr to proofread on my own time and $60/hr to
Do you do any in-person tutoring?
If you did a Google search for a reading and writing tutor near me, I might have come up in the results, but unfortunately, I only do online tutoring for both people near me and people out of state.
