I have the greatest tutoring client, "Johnny." He's an eleven-year old boy, finishing up sixth grade. He is very bright but lazy and hated writing, which is why his mom brought me in. The first day I met him, I told him that he wasn't going to hate writing tutoring. He answered me "We'll see about that." It was almost too easy. I found out that he loves fantasy novels and once I told him that he could write in the same genre, he was hooked. Now, this kid goes to a small expensive private school with very small classes. Why his teacher can't give him the individual attention necessary to find out how to get him interested in writing, I have no idea. It wasn't hard. I finally got the kid to admit he likes writing fiction. Big victory! He started writing stories about talking animals and animals that fell in toxic puddles and got superpowers and all sorts of things. When I broke it to him that he was going to write non-fiction, he gr
Author of Literally Unbelievable: Stories of an East Oakland Classroom