Ph.D. University of Toronto Retired Professor willing to tutor all grades levels.

Find out more about Allessandra

• When and why did you develop an interest in your chosen field?

  My parents always told me I am a born teacher/educator. I recall teaching my younger sister, my cousins and friends when I was a child. My interest in teaching comes from within: it’s part of my DNA. I always looked for opportunities to teach in and outside the classroom. In a similar vein, I am constantly looking for opportunities to learn and crave this as much as I need food or water.

• What makes you passionate about your subject?

  I am passionate about teaching English Literature and Law because all three disciplines are intellectually stimulating and morally satisfying. I love teaching novels because they afford the room to thoroughly analyze and present truth in all its complexity and complication. In contrast, teaching legal writing involves showing students how to construct a principle of law and then add supporting facts to flesh out that principle. Legal writing is narrower in scope that creative writing. I enjoy teaching students how to construct an argument and engage in rigorous debate.

• What do you like about tutoring? What makes you a Superprof?

  I love the one-on-one student interaction and the shared experience of learning. I am a lifetime learner who completed seven university degrees in a variety of disciplines, including English Literature, Education and USA and Canadian Law. I enjoy imparting my love of learning to my students. Super Profs are educators who can spark a student’s natural curiosity in learning new and wonderful things. Reading is foundational to learning, and as an avid reader myself, I can teach my students how to reference a myriad of texts from a variety of disciplines, which, in turn, adds layers and texture to their university essays.

• Do you have any role models, a teacher who inspired you? Please explain?

  My role model is my mother, who always wanted to be a teacher, but never had the opportunity or the means to do so. My mom is an immigrant from Italy. Even though she never obtained a bachelor’s in education, she is a born teacher. She inspired me to excel in school because she viewed education as a privilege. I never took education for granted.

• What are your keys to success?

  I view success as an incremental process, involving daily steps toward a goal. This involves focus and discipline. Once I define a goal for myself, I outline the steps I need to take to reach that goal. I cultivated these keys to success when I wrote my dissertation for my Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Completing a dissertation is no small feat. I had to structure my own daily timetable, outline my study and writing plan, submit chapters for review, incorporate changes and finalize multiple drafts – all on my own. There was no classroom, no professor, just me in my study. Without focus and discipline, I would never have earned my Ph.D.