The Full Story
About Jen
With over 20 years in education, I’ve had the privilege of guiding students from early childhood through college. My 13-year tenure in the middle school English classroom was dedicated to nurturing students' writing abilities, enhancing reading comprehension, and fostering a lifelong appreciation for literature.
Over the past 10 years, I've been part of San Antonio's private and public charter school community, where I initiated SAT prep programs and offered private tutoring. This experience has deepened my understanding of supporting students aiming to excel in standardized testing, hone academic skills, and express their unique voices through writing. This spring, I followed my heart to officially form Catalyst Writing and Education, offering personalized SAT prep, reading and writing coaching, and more.
My Background
I hold a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Northwestern College and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from UT Austin, and I am a licensed ELAR 7-12 educator. Through personalized tutoring, I leverage my expertise in small group and one-on-one instruction to help students develop into critical thinkers, navigate the complex messages in our world, and appreciate the richness of the human experience. I'm dedicated to helping your student learn to love reading and writing, boost their confidence, and achieve success!
My Philosophy
Reading is the biggest indicator of academic success across the board, and a strong vocabulary is necessary for reading and writing strength - in a world awash with nonstop information, being able to discern messages, understand implications, and support claims with evidence is crucial for meaningful citizenship. But an equally important call to be a reader is that reading makes us better people. Fiction, in particular, is a powerful tool for developing empathy. When students dive into novels, they live the lives of the characters, feeling their struggles and triumphs. It’s through caring about literary characters, like Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, Jonas in The Giver, Prometheus from Greek Mythology, that readers often find themselves challenged to think beyond themselves and see the world through others’ eyes. This is crucial in a world that needs more understanding and compassion. Guiding students to become discerning interpreters of messages, stated and implied, written and spoken, helps them become wise and capable citizens.
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If reading is the inhale, writing is the exhale. Writing is one of the most powerful tools a student can use to express themselves and shape their identity, but by middle school, many students no longer write (or read) for pleasure. This is such a missed opportunity during a time when they're changing and exploring who they are, bombarded at every turn by messages about who they should be. For some, writing can be intimidating—it’s not just about putting words on a page; it requires structure, vocabulary, mechanics, punctuation, and style. For many students, juggling all these elements feels overwhelming. But this challenge, when approached with the right guidance, can turn into something incredible. I teach students to embrace writing as a vehicle for creativity and growth by careful coaching, mentor texts, and writing prompts for real-life purposes that matter to them. When students learn how to express their thoughts clearly and creatively, they realize that writing gives them a voice and power in the world, and is a key way to explore and define their own identity.
About Troy
With over 10 years of education in private school, I've gotten to see what works and what does not work for students from a wide variety of backgrounds and skill levels. I love getting to work with students and watching things "click" for them at different paces and in different ways, knowing that everyone is unique in how they think through a problem.
With working in private school, the opportunity has come up to start diving more into the SAT and how it operates. I take the approach of trying to learn the ins and outs of the Test, figuring out what is being asked and how it will be addressed, and what skills students can use to take down the Test. There is a balance between content-work and test-taking skills that is needed to achieve success, and I choose to focus on both of those.
My Background
I hold a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics with a Specialization in Secondary Education from Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas. Go Bulldogs!
My Philosophy
I believe that education is simply a tool that should be used to force students to think. I often tell my students who ask, "When am I going to use this in the real world?" that they are thinking about things on the wrong level. Instead of thinking about the specific topic at hand, they need to focus on the skills being used to cover the topic: problem solving, critical thinking, communication of ideas, spotting and fixing errors in the process, working with other people, etc. Those are the skills we develop in school, and those are the skills that are needed to find success across a wide range of topics, from Math to English to History to the SAT, and into the workforce later on in life. By taking a realistic and practical approach to teaching, I think students can appreciate, engage, and have more fun with their learning.