Background & Philosophy

I began working with the younger kids in my own neighborhood when I was just a teenager, and spent summers in college teaching SAT preparation to refugees through a nonprofit in Lebanon. Later, I taught at my first alma mater, The Cushman School, and worked with 4th to 12th graders, maintaining a busy after-school schedule working with a much broader range of students. Over the last two decades, I have tutored students from ages 8+, across schools such as Cushman, Ransom Everglades (another alma mater!), Palmer Trinity, Miami Country Day School, and Brown University.

Alongside that work, I've built a parallel practice with arts and education organizations and nonprofits — creative community projects, public programming, publishing, and workshops. What connects a homework session with a single student to a public poetry project reaching hundreds of people? The same underlying approach, one I place under the umbrella of teaching artistry: a practice that sits at the intersection of creativity and pedagogy,. Not education about creative arts but education through them.

Whether I'm mentoring a student one-on-one, running a workshop for children or adults, or producing a project with an arts org, the method is the same: collaborative, experience-based, dialogic — the learner and I are each building something we couldn't build alone. In this sense, I don't simply complete homework or strengthen a skill; I like to think of it as designing experiences that nurture learning, which is applicable to the most commonly sought-after subjects help like reading, writing, language, or communication strengthening.

— Available upon request —

“Dana wasn't 'a tutor' in any traditional sense—she was an academic director and member of our family. Daily and weekly homework planning, oversight of multiple professionals, communication with schools, accommodations when training across multiple countries, even supporting college application strategies. From subject to lifestyle-based needs, Dana is much more than a tutor. She is a very well-educated young woman who could have chosen so many professions, but decided to help people. Thanks for helping us, Dana.” 

— George Lindemann, General Manager of BC Property Investments and President of the Board of Trustees for The Bass Museum  

If you need services for a test or subject not offered, feel free to reach out anyway. I may be able to recommend another tutor.