I love words. I love everything about them. There is a musicality that evokes the senses, inquiry, and contemplations like nothing even remotely comparable to me. Classic literature, poetry, and Shakespeare elicit the most ardent confluence of melodies and harmonies within me: the delightful and entrancing resonance of the elocutions, the exquisite beauty of the artful expressions and compositions, the authors' unique voices and their conveyances, the elegant techniques and styles rooted in singular originalities, I could go on and on as my students know. Writing is a process and I see it as a collaborative journey a student and I are embarking on together. It invigorates me and I feel so grateful that I am able to teach what I so love.

 

My passion for tutoring started when I was a kid myself, tutoring kids in challenging situations whom adults thought were incapable and irredeemable. That is simply never the case. I meet students where they are. I truly care about each and every student and always have the highest expectations and standards of excellence for myself.

 

I love the challenge in every step of this collaborative journey of starting work with students who have negative attitudes or feel hopeless about the subjects and have lost or never had confidence and thus have been unmotivated to try. Then, being able to witness the excitement of substantial improvements on assignments is so very rewarding. It is the culmination of all their efforts to strive for something that was so difficult and seemed insurmountable to achieve. 

​

Starting work in late elementary through middle school are optimal times to start building skills of writing conventions (grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization), reading, comprehension, writing, analysis and critical thinking skills depending on a student's level not grade. I work with students who are not only receiving A's in LA or English at school, but that I deem are capable of learning and excelling at a higher level. Accordingly, I create curriculum individualized to meet their goals. As a note, I am capable of and teach History (Social Studies), Earth Science, Health and Biology - basically any word-based subject! 

​

With Common Core Standards for K-12, I assess and evaluate the milestones they should have achieved at their grade levels. However, children are unique and individuals and I believe that they learn and develop at their own pace with their own learning styles, so I do not strictly adhere to these standards but rather use them as a guide.

​

The most significant factor for students to succeed is for they, themselves, to want to do well. That is what I find to be the greatest hurdle. So I appraise how students learn best and equipped with this insight of their learning styles, I work with the students depending on the needs of the students.

 

***In the years that I have operated this business, due to the status of the educational system today, funding shortages, the quality of teaching and curriculum, I have surprisingly become my students' main English teacher. I use my reference and curriculum materials to teach the various components and elements if the students have homework assignments and often times when they don't, I use them to build individualized curricula sets.

Equally important, I assess the teachers' feedback as it can be very productive in supporting and doing well on their homework assignments because I can figure out how my students can receive the highest scores, and I can devise even more customized curriculum, tips, and strategies for students to improve and work at their peak potential.

​​

Also, of significant note, there are great benefits for summertime learning. It is an intensive program designed to fill in the disparities and be more prepared for the new school year, advancement of current skill sets, and to keep students intellectually stimulated as to not “backslide" on previous instruction (according to research studies). 

 

My students and I work on what we choose together contingent on the duration of time I work with them and their grade level. 

• For older students, it is a more advanced study of classic literature novels, short stories and/or poetry which consists of developing and applying analytical and critical thinking skills through analysis/discussion questions and other written assignments and given reference materials, and then at the end, if studying a novel, a literary essay and also very importantly, vocabulary. 

• For younger students, the curriculum will be based on books, short stories, or other learning exercises of reading comprehension, writing, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary. No matter the age, it will be tailored and individualized to meet your child’s level.

• If there are particular critical skills that need to be taught, discussed and practiced/applied, we will not work on literature, but rather I will create a curriculum to meet those specific needs. And most of all, I make it fun!

Please Note: I work during daytime business hours in the summer months.

You can choose any length of time and I am accustomed to working with complex vacation and program/activities schedules. I encourage you to think about the more challenging work and important learning I am able to provide than the schools have the capability and time to instruct during the academic year.

​​​

Important Notice: I do not possess the expertise to work with students who exhibit symptoms or have been diagnosed with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and Learning Disorders. I would recommend a Learning Specialist who does have the knowledge and skills to address those specific challenges.

​

TUTORING AND CONSULTING EXPERIENCE:

I have over 20 years of experience tutoring students privately of all ages and abilities. I have tutored throughout different times during my career simply because I love tutoring. With a bachelor's degree in English Literature from a rigorous liberal arts college in the East Coast and having graduated from the high school which includes Bill Gates and Paul Allen as alumni, I am very confident of my tutoring skills in any level of English or English Literature. But certainly those with knowledge of the subject do not always make the greatest tutors. It is a matter of experience, ability, and skill.

​

I have tutored children as young as four years old and young adults in college and graduate school and ESL students in grade-level learning and adults. I have worked at diverse settings such as Seattle Children's Hospital, University of Washington, a community health center in Los Angeles, a community mental health agency in Tacoma, and developed my own successful tutoring services businesses in Federal Way and in Los Angeles. Currently, I am the sole owner of this business and conduct all of the online tutoring (I do it all!).

​

Furthermore, I believe that my background as a school counselor and child/adolescent and adult therapist not only enhances my abilities as a tutor by understanding the psychology behind why the student is feeling pessimistic or apathetic, but also can be utilized in consultation. In my consultations, I perform the following, but it is not limited to, discussions on schools or programs that enhance learning, parent skill-building such as communication strategies with their children, finding and solving impediments to learning, etc. A popular service is the school/academic consultations. Please see the Services tab for more detailed information.

​

SIGNIFICANT RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE:

I also believe that my professional work experience has been cultivating my ability to tutor more effectively as I have continued to refine and master my own writing fluency. I have worked as an administrator, grant writer, therapist, school counselor, community liaison, project/program manager and research program manager in four school districts, a community mental health agency, non-profit organizations, and hospitals. These positions afforded me the opportunities to lead high profile meetings with directors and leaders of companies, non-profit organizations, and hospitals. Facilitating workshops, presenting at conferences, and teaching a college class at the University of Washington were also loads of fun and great experiences! I have also co-authored three research articles published in professional psychology academic journals.

​

My avocation:

Ultimately, through much soul-searching about the meaning of success and happiness in my decades of work experience, I have come to fully embrace the value and significance of Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem, "Success." Hence, though by outward appearance and society's classifications, I have achieved "success" in other positions, I have found that returning to instructing the subject of my first love, my original passion, to children and adolescents whom I believe are the greatest of gifts and the best hope for our ailing society, has given me such a sense of purpose, fulfillment, and joy like no other. Additionally, consulting gives me such a sense of gratification in identifying and resolving the challenges of both my students and their parents or giving academic counsel that propels my students in the direction of finding their own callings.

​

So what would your advantage be with me?

--> Individualized curriculum development

--> Years of experience which many tutors in this industry do not have

--> Professional writing experience 

​

Contact Information:

Grace K. Kim, M.Ed.

Email address: gkuikim@gmail.com

Please Call or Text: (206) 419-5121 in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

For all other international countries I can receive/send texts or use WhatsApp. 

​

About Me:

I am a native of Seattle (a rarity these days!). I enjoy reading, singing, seeing live music, the arts and culture, travel, and the outdoors.