Ronald

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Ronald is a veteran tutor and independent scholar who has spent more than three decades teaching Latin, writing, and humanities. Largely self-taught, he has written and refined his own textbooks and materials for Latin and composition, which he uses with students from middle school through adulthood. Ronald’s sessions are highly structured yet conversational: he introduces a concept clearly, works through examples, and then guides students as they apply it in translation, analysis, or essay writing. He values precision and deep understanding, but he’s also patient and willing to revisit topics from different angles until everything makes sense. Ronald has extensive experience with divergent thinkers, including autistic, ADHD, and gifted learners, and is skilled at balancing high expectations with realistic, individualized support. Outside of tutoring, he is an avid reader and language learner who delights in long biographies and exploring new cultures.

Monday to Saturday 7am -9pm Eastern Standard Time

For maximum effectiveness, teaching must be concise, thorough, and methodical.

Self-taught, with thirty-one years of professional experience. A "degree," from what I have seen, is no guarantee of competence --much less, of exceptionality.

Beyond helping friends and family, I have been tutoring professionally for thirty-one years. I had my own tutoring business, teaching English as a second language. Moreover, for all the subjects that I teach --English, ESL, Spanish, Latin, writing, and chess-- I have created my own textbooks, periodically revised over the years as I developed more effective strategies. Doing so has greatly contributed to the effectiveness of my teaching, which is far more effective than it would be had I been relying on published methods all these years.

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Ronald
$74.00 USD

Subject Expertise

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A Level
A Level
American Government
American Government
Ancient History
Ancient History
Cooking
Cooking
Creative Writing
Creative Writing
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking
Early Learning
Early Learning
ELA
ELA
ESL
ESL
Fractions
Fractions
Geography
Geography
History
History
IB English
IB English
Indigenous History
Indigenous History
Latin
Latin

My mission

My mission is to teach students to read, write, and speak English properly. I consider myself a bulwark against the systemic dumbing down of the language, which in turn is part of the great dumbing down of America that has been ongoing for at least the past twenty-five years.

My Story

I was fortunate to grow up well before the dawn of the digital age, when we had to learn to use a real dictionary, when we had to go to the library to consult with the encyclopedias, when teaching was done on a blackboard instead of computers, and when the most sophisticated machinery in the classroom was a manual type-writer. Blessedly simple --yet students fared much better than they do now.
I was also fortunate in that I grew up in what was then a rural area, at a time and place where kids played out in the woods, and parents did not fear for their safety. Instead of scrolling on "devices," instead of wasting time in front of the boob tube (dubbed "a radioactive wasteland" by the late Cardinal O' Conner) we explored the forests, swung from vines like Tarzen, and searched for snakes, turtles, and salamanders which we brought home to study and to identify.
I was an explorer --not only of the forests, but also of the town of Carmel which I explored from end to end on my bicycle when not yet in sixth grade, using map and compass to plan my itinerary.
I have been a teacher since I was nine years old, when I would lead the neighborhood kids on hikes through the woods, teaching them to identify the various species of reptiles and amphibians, then wildflowers, then to identify and utilize wild edible plants. A penchant for exactitude carried on into adulthood, and has served me exceptionally well in my teaching.

Cognitive Diversity

How I adapt to students with diverse intellectual needs.

I, of course, simplify the lessons for those who have greater difficulty. Nevertheless, ALL students benefit from discipline, conciseness, and methodicalness. A case in point is a seventh grader who was extremely disruptive during class at Cambria School of Excellence in Queens. They really don't come any worse than this kid. The first step was to isolate him from the class so that he wouldn't have the pleasure of an "audience" to laugh at his stupidity. Yes, that's right. Then, having imposed a mental straitjacket on the kid, I began to teach him in private --coming in extra early to tutorh im before classes started. Let me tell you that he actually began to learn --he reached the third chapter of Ecce Romani (a textbook for teaching Latin) in just two weeks, a feat that would have been impossible in the classroom. Most unfortunately, I received support neither from his parents nor the school, which ordered him back to the classroom.
Another student at the same school, a sixth grader, was enrolled in my Latin class three months late. Impossible it would have been for him to catch up without some serious tutoring. So, having reached an agreement with his parents, I began to tutor him over the phone. Every single day over Christmas vacation --yes, that's right-- I tutored him intensively and methodically. I threw the kitchen sink at this kid! By the time classes resumed on the second of January, he was three chapters ahead of his classmates.
In yet another case, the mother of a tenth grader complained to me about the complaint she received from his Spanish teacher --that I had taught him so much that in her class he had ceased to participate, and out of boredom would always be staring out at the clouds.
Still another student, a seventh grader at Cambria, who had failed the midterm exam miserably, agreed to over-the-phone tutoring. (Every student in my class had my phone number!) At the end of the course, he took the final exam; and, instead of 43, he scored 90, much to the applause of his classmates! The pride on his face was unforgettable.

I have taught Spanish to a number of exceptionally gifted middle and high school students; English Language Arts, Reading Comprehension, and U.S history to elementary students; and Latin and essay writing to high school students.

(See, please, what I wrote under "twice exceptional."}

Two profoundly gifted students who, in particular, stand out in my mind, are a fourth grader whom I am presently tutoring in English Language Arts; and a tenth grader whom I was tutoring in Latin. The former, aided by a phenomenal memory, advances through vocabulary and reading comprehension like wildfire; and the latter's knowledge of Roman History, as well as his progress in Latin, were equally astonishing.

It is important to understand, first, what the cause of ADHD is, which is rarely genetic, as so many have been led to believe. Rather, it is the result of being raised in an environment antagonistic to focus and concentration: siblings yelling, the T.V. or the radio blaring, parents arguing, people coming and going, and the accursed digital devices which encourge superficial and sporadic reading. The modern American diet, consisting almost entirely of denatured foods, and loaded with salt and sugar, is also a factor. As always, a lack of education in proper parenting and proper nutrition is at the root of so many of society's ills.
Regarding my experience with children having ADHD, please refer to what I wrote about the extremely disruptive seventh grader in my Latin class at Cambria School of Excellence.

My own son is autistic. Under my firm, but loving discipline, his progess on the piano has been astounding. Most "normal" kids would crack under the kind of discipline that I impose on him; but he keeps going at it --keeps going at it-- until he gets it right! My commendations at the end of the lesson make it all worth it for him!

Ronald Sample Lesson

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