About
Blooming Minds
Blooming Minds nurtures metacognition through a multitude of learning styles dictated by content and student performance
About us
It is the tutor’s job to meet your child exactly where they are along the path of learning and, through careful assessment and planning, build a bridge to reach their unique and desired learning goals.
Whether you are seeking intervention to bring your child up to grade level in a specific subject or multiple subject areas, or seeking enrichment in the form of project-based learning, Blooming Minds has the solution to advancing your student’s academic achievement and higher order thinking skills as well as improving their social-emotional self-confidence.
Meet the Tutor
Courtney Harrison
BACKGROUND
Courtney is a California clear-credentialed teacher based in Santa Cruz, CA with a Master of Arts in Teaching (PK-6), four years of classroom experience, and three years of dedicated private tutoring experience. As a first and second grade teacher at a Reggio-Emilia inspired elementary school, she was able to provide a great deal of personalized, one-on-one and small-group instruction to her students. This ultimately led Courtney to the realization that individualized instruction, particularly as it relates to intervention, was her passion.
Prior to graduating with a B.S. and M.A.T. from James Madison University (Harrisonburg, Virginia), she was able to work closely with low-income, culturally diverse students in a public school setting in rural Virginia. During her four years as a multiple-subject classroom teacher at a private school in Silicon Valley, she was able to focus closely on social-emotional development, and enjoy the professional freedom to craft and sequence lessons according to student need without the hindrance of state imposed pacing guides.
TEACHING STYLES & TECHNIQUES
Courtney's prior experience and achievements permit her to design differentiated lessons to meet individual student needs and learning styles. Especially suited to meeting students where they are academically and social-emotionally, she creates and executes realistic intervention plans using developmentally appropriate practices, grade level standards, and student, parent, and teacher initiated goals. She is equipped with a deep pedagogical understanding of phonics and decoding techniques, age appropriate and grade level comprehension skills, a Slingerland inspired handwriting method, and narrative, informational, and fictional story development. Inspired by a plethora of curriculum materials such as Singapore Math, the Math Learning Center’s Bridges curriculum, and local experts such as Peggy McClean and Kelli Pearson, Courtney uses a hands-on approach to instruction in conceptual development and problem solving that deepens mathematical understanding. Furthermore, Courtney is trained in the Orton-Gillingham method and often uses this methodically structured, mastery-based ELA resource either exclusively or as a framework depending upon student need.