My teaching philosophy

I’ve been teaching for a while.

Ten years! These are beliefs that sum up my approach to teaching. Read about them below or listen to my walkthrough in the video.

I don’t know what the F@#! I’m talking about

Obviously**,** this is hyperbolic. I wouldn’t have stayed employed if I was bereft of knowledge. But I don’t consider myself an “expert.” I’m not better or smarter than you. I don’t promise to hand you the writing secrets that’ll make you a beloved billionaire scribe tomorrow (or ever). English is a nuanced and evolving language, particularly in the age of AI. While I’ve learned a lot and I’m dedicated to lifelong learning, I’ve been wrong before. I’m open to being wrong again, to admitting when I’m wrong and you’re right, and to telling you when I don’t know something.

I don’t want to see you twice.

Let me be clear: students do take classes with me more than once, sometimes working with me over the course of years. And I love seeing them! All I’m saying is I strive for my lessons to be so valuable, so rich in content and specific in strategies, that you never have to come back. I answer questions in and out of class, I avoid gatekeeping—if there are free resources I know about, I share them—and I stuff as much material into my classes as possible while keeping things fun and digestible.

We’re all gonna die.

You may be of the opinion that all writing classes are dull. But I reject that. Life is too short to spend your hours in a learning environment that bores you to tears. You don’t need to memorize technical grammar terms or endure lectures on rules that don’t apply to you. In my classes, we laugh, we tell stories. I’m plainspoken and I’m practical. We have fun. People have told me this atmosphere helps the material stick, too.

Classes are snowflakes.

I’ve taught and coached a lot of people. Nuns and sugar daddies, high school dropouts and CFOs, a Real Housewife of New York, a fitness coach People magazine named Sexiest Trainer Alive, a Nigerian princess, a guy who has lucid dreams featuring the ghost of Neville Goddard. I have never taught the same class twice because no group of students is the same. I adjust my style on-the-fly to best serve the collective unit and every person in it. I am with you, in this moment, for however long we’ve got.