Before my classroom teaching career, I founded and operated ABC Tutoring Co., providing individualized academic support to students and families. Through tutoring, I developed an early understanding of differentiated instruction, student confidence, goal setting, communication with families, and adapting instruction to individual learning needs.
Learning made personal.
Where it Began
What started as helping a neighbour quickly grew through word of mouth. I began tutoring multiple children across a wide range of ages, from my youngest learner at five years old to my eldest at eighteen.
I supported students across a wide range of subjects and learning needs, which meant continually adapting how I explained concepts, structured practice, and approached individual challenges. I also maintained regular communication with parents and families, sharing progress, discussing areas for improvement, and working together to support each learner.
As my tutoring practice grew, I also had opportunities to communicate directly with teachers and professors about individual students and their academic needs. These conversations helped me understand the importance of collaboration and of seeing the learner within the larger educational environment.
What began as helping one student became the foundation of ABC Tutoring Co. and an early chapter in my development as an educator.
Beyond Tutoring
The students became more than “students.” Their families welcomed me into their homes, Christmas visits became regular moments, and the ABC Tutoring family kept growing.
What began as an academic relationship often became something much more meaningful. I was welcomed into families’ lives, celebrated students’ milestones, and watched young people grow not only as learners, but as individuals.
Those relationships taught me something I continue to carry into my classroom today: teaching is ultimately about people. The academic work matters, but so do trust, consistency, encouragement, and the relationships built along the way.
I have never been more proud of where those relationships have brought me. To this day, almost ten years later, those families are still part of mine.
What began as helping a neighbour with schoolwork grew into something I could never have anticipated: a community of students and families who became an important part of my life and shaped the educator I would eventually become.
What ABC Tutoring Taught Me
Individualized Instruction
Tutoring taught me very early that there is no single way to teach something. Every learner came with a different combination of strengths, challenges, interests, confidence levels, and previous experiences. I learned to adjust my explanations, pacing, activities, and approach depending on what each student needed.
Sometimes that meant breaking a difficult concept into smaller pieces. Sometimes it meant approaching the same idea from a completely different angle. And sometimes, the most important thing I could do was simply give a student the confidence to try again.
Communication & Collaboration
Working with students also meant working with the people who supported them. I maintained regular communication with parents and families, discussing progress, challenges, goals, and ways to support learning outside of our tutoring sessions.
As my tutoring practice grew, I also had opportunities to communicate with teachers and professors about individual students and their academic needs. These experiences taught me that supporting a learner is rarely an individual effort. Strong communication between the people surrounding a student can make a meaningful difference.
Building Confidence
Academic support is not only about improving a mark. For many students, confidence was just as important as the subject itself.
I learned to recognize small moments of progress and celebrate them. A student who finally understood a difficult concept, completed something they had previously thought was impossible, or began approaching their work with greater independence was experiencing an important kind of success.
Those moments taught me that confidence and achievement often grow together.
Adapting to Different Learners
Working with students from five to eighteen years old meant constantly adapting. The strategies that worked for a young learner were not necessarily appropriate for a teenager preparing for university, and the same approach did not work for every student within an age group.
ABC Tutoring taught me to pay attention to the learner in front of me rather than relying on a single method of instruction. That flexibility became one of the foundations of my teaching practice.
From Tutoring to the Classroom
ABC Tutoring was one of the first places where I began to understand myself as an educator. Long before I stood in front of a secondary classroom, I was learning how to explain, listen, adapt, encourage, communicate, and build relationships with learners and their families.
The skills I developed through tutoring continue to shape the way I teach today. Meet the learner where they are. Make the learning accessible. Build confidence. Communicate clearly. And never lose sight of the person behind the work.
What I Taught
ABC Tutoring grew with the learners it served. Over the years, I supported students from early literacy and elementary school through high school, college, and university preparation.
Early Learning
Phonics & Pre-K Learning
Supporting foundational literacy, early reading skills, phonics, and school readiness.
Grades 1–8
All Subjects French Italian Spanish
Providing broad academic support across the elementary curriculum, adapting instruction to each student’s grade level, learning needs, and areas of difficulty.
High School
English French Italian Spanish History Geography Social Sciences Religious Education
Supporting students with subject knowledge, reading comprehension, writing, assignments, test preparation, and developing stronger academic skills.
College & University Preparation
Interview Preparation Essay Writing SAT Preparation Study Skills Résumé Building Environmental Studies Business Studies Social Sciences Theology & Philosophy English Literature Creative Writing
Supporting students as they transitioned from secondary school into post-secondary education, with a focus on academic preparation, written communication, organization, and confidence.
Working across such a wide range of ages and subjects taught me to become comfortable entering unfamiliar territory, learning alongside my students, and finding the most effective way to make a concept accessible.
A New Chapter: 2026
Nearly a decade after ABC Tutoring began, I returned to the original idea with a new perspective. What started as a small tutoring service in February 2017 became one of the earliest foundations of my teaching practice.
In 2026, I began reimagining ABC Tutoring Co. as part of the larger educational work represented through The Sage’s Library. The original spirit remains the same: individualized support, meaningful relationships, and helping learners build confidence one step at a time.
The new identity reflects both where ABC began and how I have grown as an educator since 2017.
The Sage's Library 