Consulting/Coaching
Experience, Approach and Results
Since 2013, in addition to my private teaching and consulting for individuals, I have guest lectured and led workshops at universities as an independent educator.
Faculty/Staff Positions
- Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, Narrative Medicine Program, Co-Leader, Writing Workshop, 2006
- Columbia University Undergraduate Writing Program. Instructor, 2007-2009
- Central European University, Junior Faculty, Center for Academic Writing, Departments of Environmental Science, Legal Studies, Gender Studies and Public Policy, 2009-2010
- Hungarian National Bank, Professional Writing Course, 2010
- Yeshiva University, Stern College, Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, 2011
- Yeshiva University, Beren Campus, Writing Center, Adjunct Faculty, 2011
- City University of New York - Lehman College, Academic Center for Excellence, Adjunct Faculty, 2011-2012
- Columbia University, Writing Center Consultant, 2009; 2011-2012
- Columbia University, Writing Center Assistant Director, 2012-2013
Conference Presentations on Pedagogy
- State University of New York-Council on Writing Conference, Fashion Institute of Technology, 2012
- Northeast Writing Centers Association Conference, St. John's University, 2012
- Conference on College Composition and Communication, Indianapolis, 2014
Approach
Writing consulting is a process of learning and exchanging ideas one-on-one; the process incorporates the best pedagogy used in traditional writing classrooms and transforms it for independent study. The consultant is a teacher who facilitates learning through the development of a specific writing project.
My method of consulting is through instructive discussions of skills and strategies. These are used to draw out the writer's ideas and to translate them onto the page. The emphasis is on process as a means to improve the product. The writer maintains autonomy over her project's ideas, while the consultant serves as reader and offers expertise in rhetorical techniques.
The consultant transfers knowledge about objective principles to the writer; this develops an applied understanding of how any text communicates its ideas to readers.
Consultants empower writers by teaching them to understand the underlying architecture of writing, to articulate how and why strategies work, and to replicate these. This learning process also changes how one can read and understand others' writing.
Every project and writer is at a different stage of development. To move existing projects to the next stage of completion, I help writers identify and understand the mechanics of their text as these relate to the text's ideas; next, we tackle specific ways to improve both the writer's process and the text.
I work with individuals at the brainstorming, drafting, and revising phase of manuscripts. For some writers, this fills in gaps in writing skills that are fundamental to long-term success in their careers. For others who are already publishing on a regular basis, this provides the perspective of an outside reader.
I work with writers in person and remotely by arrangement.
Results
I have worked collaboratively with many scholars to draft master's degree theses and PhD dissertations, as well as restructure these for journal publication or general audiences. In my career teaching as a faculty member at universities in Europe and the United States, I have taught writers from dozens of linguistic backgrounds and numerous academic disciplines.
Most of my work is with writers who are generating knowledge in their writing, which demands mastery and implementation of the most advanced writing skills. While I work with both monolingual and multilingual writers, I also specialize in helping writers negotiate and transfer voice, style and logic from and between other language systems into conventions of academic English.
In addition to my work with academic writers, I enjoy developing general audience nonfiction projects ranging from op-ed to reportage to memoir. I can be contracted to advise writers on drafts of novels, short stories, essays, and creative work.