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I'm Jenn
Jacobs.
kind of like Anne with an e, but Jenn with two n's
I'm a private tutor in Toronto, visual thinker & academic resource creator with one too many notebooks filled with doodles and my next big ideas.
Just like you, I'm not the same person all the time. The Jenn I am today isn't the one I was twenty years ago. There have been several different iterations of me over the last number of years. So, let me introduce you to a few different Jenn's that have brought me to where I am today.
I'm going to start with the Jenn you may be now - or once were...
the student who struggled in university Jenn
...the writing obsessed Jenn
Reading stories, writing stories, telling stories - I've always wanted to be immersed in story. I still have boxed up in my closet short stories and poems from my elementary & high school days. And, of course, I have all my essays from university tucked away in a box beside them. And, another box - on the same shelf - that houses journals and diaries dating back to Grade 5 when I spent most of time whining about how unfair life was with as the sister of a much older brother.
...the critical & creative thinker Jenn
One day I ended up in a first year university English class - ENG A11. I met a professor and instantly knew this man was going to change how I thought, how I read, and how I wrote. I showed up to every one of his classes (and I can't say that about too many other profs), laughed at his digressions, and found myself completely gripped by his insight and creative ways of thinking. I took 8 of his courses throughout my five years of undergrad and I studied him with intention because he did what I wanted to do - teach students HOW to think, not WHAT to think. So, here I am - doing everything I can to spark a flame in my students to think for themselves and experience the power that comes from finding their own voice like my first year prof did for me.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them
feel."
Maya Angelou
...the teacher Jenn
Sometimes you choose your job, and sometimes your job chooses you. I applied for a part-time tutoring position at the age of 19. Fast-forward twenty years, and I'm still doing the same thing, only now I don't have to fill out a timesheet or wait 'til the end of the month for a pay check. I've always done what makes me happy, and so I've always tutored writing.
"Experience
is simply the name we give to our
mistakes ."
Oscar Wilde
There are two kinds of academic writing: the dry oatmeal kind that's bland and hard to read, and the kind that isn't. I help you write the kind that isn't.
I'm Jenn. An academic writing expert, creator of anti-jargon writing tutorials and lessons, bookworm with a master's degree, private tutor who sticks around for the long haul, obsessive DIYer & thrifter, long-time visual artist, cat lover, and proud mama of two free-spirited boys and one mini-me.
Before you visit my store and pick up a tutorial or two, you need to know...
1.
I don't tell you it's easy.
The steps are simple to follow. But, you still have to put in the work... and lots of it.
2.
3.
4.
5.
I don't guarantee A's.
But, I do guarantee you'll start thinking & writing more like an A student - and that's really where you need to start.
I don't dish out quick fixes.
I teach you how to think and see writing in new ways. Hacks don't work and I want nothing to do with them.
I don't teach formulas.
Writing formulas limit your thinking and make writing a fill-in-the-blank exercise. I'm not into that. I teach you to be an explorer.
I don't separate critical writing from critical reading.
I teach you how to think and see writing in new ways. Hacks don't work and I want nothing to do with them.
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