#and if their parents can pay for test prep tutoring they are probably getting extra time lol

[sapphicsmaximoff]

ease into it - wanda maximoff

Summary: getting assigned a project with a school ice queen seems like a fun time, right?

a/n: another wanda au cuz i’m bored.

Story Masterlist

Xavier Prep had split itself into two categories, or at least the students did. There was the scholarship kids, and then the rich kids. Of course the rich kids made this comparison to seem superior, and it worked in a way. 

Surprisingly, there were very few kids there on a scholarship. Enough to count on the hand at least. The rest were filthy rich, well equipped with people to take their important tests, and Ivies ready with spots to fill.

Unfortunately for you, you were not a lucky rich kid. The dean was friends with your aunt, and that’s how you’d gotten the connection to this school back in 9th grade. Now you were working in the tutoring center to help pay for tuition, because your parents couldn’t afford this school, uniforms, and your younger sisters’ activities. 

$2300 a month was robbery.

The money was good, and it helped that teachers were very adamant on making sure you got payed. You were glad considering the amount of sessions you were skipped out on, or the way the richer kids would treat you like you were their maid. You recalled that one time Quentin Beck had given you $500 to tell Dr. Banner that he’d come to sessions to get off of his back. 

Of course you took it, but you felt weird about it. And of course the richer kids loathed your intelligence because their money made up for that. “Y/LN.” Ms. Palmer calls. 

You stood from your seat, walking to the front to her desk. “This was a phenomenal essay, you should submit it to the contest we’re having next weekend.” You smile, taking the paper. “Aren’t you like the main judge? Wouldn’t that be biased?” You laugh, the older woman chuckling. “Yes, but I won’t be the only one, consider it.” You nod, walking back to your desk. 

As you walked, your eyes averted slightly to look at Wanda, your crush since 9th grade. You know she probably didn’t remember when you were lab partners, or all the time you held the door, but you did. When you made it back to your seat, you were still staring as she talked to Natasha. 

“You’re pathetic.” MJ mutters from beside you, making you jump. Peter snorts, adjusting his uniform tie as he sits up in his chair. “I am not pathetic.” You mumble, focusing on the worksheet you all had just been handed. A hand grasped your shoulder from behind, making you smirk. 

“You’re pathetic.” Kate repeats with a smile. She sits back, making you roll your eyes. “It’s never gonna happen, man.” MJ mocks, placing a hand on your other shoulder. “Obviously, plus I think I’m perfectly fine single, and lonely, and...” You pause, making your friends sigh. 

“Oh, brother.” Kate mutters. “Ya know what? Fuck you, Kate. That’s why Coach is gonna make you run laps all day while I get to actually practice.” Kate scoffs as your other friends snort.

“Yeah, right. You can barely run half a pole without get winded.” You roll your eyes, sitting back as Ms. Palmer stands at the front of the class. “Attention!” Almost everyone quiets down, and the extra noise easily annoys you.

“I have a project for you all, but since Ms. Maximoff, and Ms. Grey, and Ms. Romanoff are so busy in conversation…” Natasha looks up from her phone, silencing herself as Wanda and Jean look up at the teacher.

“Ok! Well, I have a project for you all. I want for you to write-“ The class groans, making the teacher chuckle. “I want you to write a play. Based off of the genre your group leaders pick.” You loved to script write, so this would be easy. “Group leaders are…Y/N.” You smile nervously as a few groans are expressed.

“Pietro.” Pietro turns to his friend beside him with a smirk. “Natasha.” The redhead smirks as the girls beside her smile. “Mr. Walker.” John scoffs. “,and Remy.”

“Thank ya, Ms. Palma, I won’t let ya down.”

“I hope not. So leaders, pick your slips.” She pulls an envelope from her desk, and the four of you stood, grabbing a single slip. “We will be in five groups of 4…” The class seems to buzz with excitement.

“Chosen by yours truly.” Then came the protests. Of course you were disappointed in not working with Peter, MJ, and Kate. You found it unnecessary, it being the protests, considering if you’re paired with anyone other than your friends, you’re doing all the work.

“You can whine all you want, but it’s temporary. Now! Let’s start with…Natasha.” The redhead sent the older redhead a death glare that definitely would’ve killed the older woman in another circumstance. “Natasha, Peter-“

“Oh! Oh! Slow down!” She exclaimed, making Peter frown and flush in embarrassment. “Bucky…” The boy blows her an air kiss. “and Emma.” Emma was already sat behind Natasha, and was whispering in her ear, looking at Peter. They separate with a giggle, and MJ shot a glare towards them.

“Remy, Anna Marie, Gwen, and MJ.” The girl beside you shrugged as Remy looked over at you guys, throwing a thumbs up towards MJ.

“Pietro, you will be with Vision, Quentin, Kitty, and Kate.” Pietro shrugs, and Vision turns around, kissing Wanda’s hand. “Y/N’s group will be Wanda…” The girls around Wanda snort as her jaw drops. Kate scoffs at the reaction, noticing your discomfort.

“Sam, Jean, and Darcy.” She looks over to John.

“John, Lemar…“ The two dap each other up. “Oh, that’s not fair!” Natasha exclaims. “Life isn’t fair. The last three are Bruce, Steve, and Bobby. Everyone disperse!” Some students move around, but you don’t, now quite pissed at Wanda’s reaction.

Wanda and Jean were actively avoiding next to you, loitering around Natasha’s group as they conversed with her and Emma.

You smile slightly when Sam places his hands on your shoulders, shaking you lightly. “Wassup, kid?” He smirks, sitting next to you. “Nothin’ much.” You smile, looking over at Darcy. “Hi, Darcy.” She silently waves.

“So…what’s our topic?” Sam asks. You hadn’t actually looked, but you turned it around. “Romance.”

“Ooooh.” Sam rubs his hands together as you take out your laptop. You had 30 minutes left of class, and Wanda and Jean couldn’t avoid you forever, but apparently you had the plague. “So…I have several unused scripts here we can use, they’re not finished, but I think it makes this easier-“

“Ms. Maximoff, Ms. Grey, I believe your group is…” The woman points to where you were sitting. “Over here.” Ms Palmer smiles as the two girls glare, walking over to your area, they sit, automatically turning on their phones. “Ok…” You chuckle, scrolling through your Google Docs.

“Ok! Um, Heartbreak Hotel, I can easily reformat it.” You nod. Darcy and Sam seem ecstatic and impressed. “Cool, what’s it about?” The girl asks. “Um…a girl rekindles a friendship with a girl who outed her, and they fall in love again, despite the main character actively pursuing someone else.” Sam nods.

“That sounds real good.” He says, making you blush. “Oh…thanks.”

“Can I read it?” You nod, lending him your computer. “Wait! I wanna see.” Darcy rounds your desk, making you giggle as she sits next to Sam. Turning towards Jean and Wanda, anxiety fills your chest as you look to speak to them. “Um…”

“I-I-I need your emails, so I can send this doc to you guys.” The girls stopped speaking to one another, looking at you. “Why?” Jean asks. “Well, since you guys are obviously not planning on working, I think we’ve decided-“

“Dude, this is so good!” Sam exclaims. “So you guys wanna use it?” They nod, and you look over to the other girls. “We’ve decided to use my script to-“

“Okay, whatever. So…do we have to meet outside of this class? Or?…” You resist the urge to scoff at Wanda’s brashness. “Is assume so, to…practice? I did this project in her Honors class last year, so we have to perform on stage, because the classroom is too small…” You trail off, noticing they weren’t even listening anymore.

You look over at Sam and Darcy in disbelief, and they shrug with sympathy.

———

“Is she really a nut job?” Natasha asks as the four girls waltz down the hallway, and outside. “Yeah, she’s so like…jittery all the time, like calm down?” Jean giggles. “I’m not surprised she’s a crazy as she was in 9th grade.” Wanda mutters.

The girls walked along to spacious quad during lunch. Wanda stood on the far left, and she looked over to see you and Peter playing with a soccer ball. He was using his goalie gloves as you kicked it straight to him.

One kick of the ball curved just right, slipping through Peter’s hand, hitting Wanda directly in the back of her head. You gasp, MJ not subtly laughing as she and Gwen sat on a picnic blanket. “Oh shit! I’m sorry!” You ran over to Wanda. “Are-Are you alright?” You went to help her up, but Emma pushes you away.

“Back up, you freak!” You hold your hands up i’m surrender. “I said I was sorry.” You say with your hands up in surrender. “I bet enjoyed that, planned it.” She accuses, making you frown in confusion. “Wh-?”

“You wanted to hurt her, didn’t you?” Jean asks, trapping you in between the two. “No-I…I’m sorry, it was an accident, seriously.” They kept making you back up, until you trip on the ball, falling on your back on the hard concrete. The crows that had built around you had bursted out in giggles as you groaned.

The girls walked off as Peter nervously picked you up. “God, I’m sorry I didn’t catch it, Y/N.”

“It’s okay, Pete. You’re fine.” You walked back to your small picnic, MJ and Gwen eyeing you with worry. “Are you okay?” The blonde asks, making you nod. “That was crazy intense. I though they were going to suck your blood.” MJ mutters.

“They’re saving me for their winter sacrifice.” You joke. It was hard being in love with someone that hung out with people like that. But of course she did because she is like that.

That day, you’d given up on it. If this was the repeated torment you were gonna receive just for being near her, you’d think it best to keep your distance.

[ellewritesathing]

(Un)Requited  -   I.L    IV

Summary: Isaac Lahey had gone through many twists and turns in his life, but none of them compared to the whiplash he got when you asked him to tutor you. With a few weeks until the end of the semester and the big dance coming up, he’s hoping to figure out a way to ask you to go with him before it’s too late.

Masterlist Prev. | Part 4

Word-count: 3.4k+

A/N: i’m still working on the last part of this fic so i’ll probably only update again in a week or two!! sorry guys 💕

Things between you and Isaac had been weird ever since he walked away from you that day on the lacrosse field. His jokes were delivered a little more awkwardly, your laughter was a few seconds shorter, and whenever it felt like the tension was starting to dissipate, your phone would light up and Stiles’ name would be on your screen. Isaac hated it. 

He hated the anger he carried around in his chest all the time. He hated how jealous he was of Stiles. Most of all, he hated that his relationship with you was fucked because he couldn’t get over a stupid crush. Sure, it was a crush he’d had since he was ten, but it was just a crush. He shouldn’t have let it, for lack of a better word, crush him like this. 

Isaac was busy shoving some books into his overpopulated locker when he felt a very familiar tap on his shoulder. 

When he turned, you were beaming at him with such warmth and familiarity that Isaac forgot that things were weird between you for a second. “Guess what.” Your voice barely contained your excitement.  

“Greenberg walked into a locker again?” Isaac asked, deliberately stalling to keep you around him a bit longer.

You laughed and shoved his arm playfully. “No, silly.” You made the booklet of paper in your hands dance and pressed it into his hands. Your hands were cool to the touch. Probably guessing that he was paying more attention to the physical contact than whatever was on the paper, you pointed to the top  corner of the page and said, “Look!”

Isaac repressed a laugh but he still smiled at you before looking down at the paper. It was an algebra test with a B+ in big, red block letters and an extra credit assignment with a perfect score. “No way!” Isaac grinned and pulled you into a hug. “See, I told you that you could do it!”

Your arms wrapped around his waist and you laughed into his chest. Slowly, you looked up at him and tapped his chest lightly. “Yeah, but I never could have done it without you,” you said.  

For a moment, it was like the whole world slowed down, leaving you and Isaac alone in the quiet hallway. Isaac almost could have sworn your heart was beating as fast as his was, but that wouldn’t make any sense. There was no reason for your heart to beat faster because of Isaac.

But Stiles showed up before Isaac had a chance to figure out why your heart was beating like that and you pulled away. 

“Hey.” He drew the word out in that annoying voice of his. Stiles was unusually easy-going considering that he hated Isaac and he was dating you, and the two of you had been tangled up not even a moment before. “What are we celebrating?” 

You'd pulled away from Isaac so that you were only holding onto him with one hand, just barely around his lower back, as you handed Stiles your test. “I’m almost an A student. You know, I’m thinking of changing my career goals from trophy wife to mathematician.” 

“Don’t sell yourself short. You could totally be a trophy wife and a mathematician,” Stiles said with an aggravating smile. He was so good at saying stuff like that that it drove Isaac up a wall.

You laughed and pretended to be offended as you grabbed your test back. You let go of Isaac to harass Stiles but you soon enough you were laughing and nestling yourself under Stiles’ arm. His fingers interlaced with yours easily as you said something equally charming and witty to him. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Stiles rolled his eyes and smiled at you. His thumb grazed yours as he tilted his head down, almost bumping his forehead into your head. “You sure I can’t convince you to grab lunch with me and Scott? We could ditch Scott.” 

You let out a self-conscious laugh and ducked your head. “As tempting as that offer is…” you untangled yourself from Stiles and took a step back from him. “Isaac and I have a date with some suits.”

Not that kind of date, Isaac reminded himself as he gave Stiles his best attempt at a friendly smile. Judging by Stiles’ reaction, it came out as more of a grimace.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Stiles scratched the side of his face. “Cutting the dance prep a little short, aren’t you?” 

Isaac straightened up and tried to get the venom out of his voice. “Yeah, well, we had some unexpected interruptions. You don’t mind though, right?”

“Absolutely not,” Stiles said, not sounding defensive, exactly, but definitely not as easy-going as before. He looked over at you and squeezed your hand as he said something about catching up with you later. 

You took a deep breath and ran your hand through your hair as Stiles disappeared into the sea of hormonal teenagers. “So-” you stepped closer to Isaac and gave him a smile that didn’t reach your eyes. “Ready to go?”

If Isaac was honest, he’d tell you that the absolute last thing he ever wanted to do was go shopping for a suit that he didn’t want to wear to a dance he didn’t care about, but he couldn’t be honest with you - not about his feelings, and not about this dance - because you were trying. 

Isaac wanted to try, too. He really did, but Isaac's problem was that he wasn’t as good as you. Then again no one was as good as you, but still. Isaac had to try or he’d lose you again. 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” The closing of Isaac’s locker punctuated his lie better than his smiling grimace ever could. 

If you noticed his bad mood - which might have been difficult considering how Isaac was almost always in a bad mood these days - you were nice enough not to mention it as the two of you made your way through the school to the parking lot. Instead, you told him more about your classes and how Greenberg did, in fact, walk into a locker earlier that day. 

There was an anxious lilt to your voice as you talked about your English paper that Isaac didn’t recognize. Sure, he’d seen you be nervous before tests and that first day in the hallway, but this was different. That had been unsure while this was second-guessing. That had been butterflies, and this was a sinking feeling.

Isaac couldn’t wrap his head around what could have been making you anxious. You were happy about your grades, you’d been excited about your parents leaving you home alone so they could check on Alex for the weekend, and you had Stiles. With all that, plus the dance coming up, you shouldn’t have been anxious. 

And yet there you were, mumbling curse words under your breath when people cut you off on the road and hiding a frown behind a tight smile as you pulled into a parking space.

You killed the engine and sighed as you turned to Isaac. “Hey, so I’ve gotta tell you something about Stiles-” 

“Why are we outside a thrift store?” Isaac asked as he peered through the windscreen. 

The store was cute. Bright sunflowers painted next to yellow letters that swirled together to spell ‘Anne’s Next to New Clothing and Trinkets.’ A white table with a flower arrangement and some of the aforementioned trinkets. Through the window, Isaac could make out a little girl trying on about a dozen necklaces while her dad apologized to the person behind the counter. Cute, but it didn’t make sense. 

Isaac turned to look at you when he realized that he’d interrupted you and you probably thought he was the most self-absorbed idiot in the world. You were staring at him with wide eyes as if to prove his point. 

“I’m sorry, I-” 

“No, don’t be sorry.” Your surprise melted into a nervous laugh and you dropped your gaze for a moment. When you looked back at him, your smile had softened into something smaller, something more genuine. “Since our mall trip ended so badly, I thought we could try something else.” 

Isaac gave you a lazy smile and nodded his head to the store. “Something next to new?” 

You scrunched up your face and groaned, putting your face in your hands. “Ugh, this was a dumb idea, wasn’t it? We can leave. Give me a sec to pull out-” 

“No. No, that’s not what I meant-” Isaac reached over to grab your hands before he realized what he was doing. With one touch, it was like you erased the entire world that existed outside your car. It was just you, Isaac, and a whole bunch of electricity. “I just meant,” he said quietly, “that it was really nice of you to do this for me. I’m not really used to people doing nice things for me.”

“Well, get used to it because I’m not going anywhere,” you told him. Your words were quiet but your smile was playful. “Come on.” You tilted your head to the door and pulled away. 

Isaac tried to get his heart to beat normally again as your door clicked open and thumped close behind you. He took two deep, steady breaths, then shook his head and met you at the front of your car. 

You rocked back and forth on your heels as you waited for him. With a nervous smile, you led Isaac inside. The bell chimed as you opened the door, ringing in Isaac’s head as you greeted the cashier, and Isaac went on the awkward defensive again. He ran his hands along the swaths of fabric as the two of you made your way through the store. Felt, polyester, cotton, and wool greeted his fingertips until Isaac stopped in the formalwear section. 

Old dresses mixed with a bizarre assortment of wedding attire and four suits, two with three pieces and each a different color to the last. Isaac took his eyes off the suits to find you trying to hide your glances at him. Isaac didn’t bother to hide his amusement at your secrecy. 

“What?” You laughed when you caught Isaac waiting for you to steal another look at him. You tucked some hair behind your ear without thinking about it. 

Isaac smiled, stifling another laugh. “I didn’t say anything.” 

“No, but you want to.” You looked at Isaac with an expression he couldn’t place. Friendly, playful, but just as he tried putting a better word to it, you looked away. Turning your attention to a gray suit, you waved Isaac over. “What do you think of this one?” 

Isaac sighed as he made his way over and tilted his head to get a better look at the suit. “I mean, it’s not terrible,” Isaac said, running his hands up the lapel. 

You laughed and bumped your arm into Isaac’s. “Well, high praise for this one aside,” you teased, “maybe we should find something a notch above ‘not terrible’ for the big night.”

“Whatever you say,” Isaac said with a smile. The one suit was a baby blue, which instantly struck it out of Isaac’s book and left him with two black options. Boring, yes, but that’s what made them safe. 

Nevertheless, you ushered Isaac into the changing room with his two boring suits and made him promise to take his time so you could try and pick something out for yourself. The thought of you waiting for him made Isaac’s stomach lurch, but he still promised to give each suit a fair chance. 

The first suit was a slightly snug; not awful looking, but not the most comfortable. If Isaac was going to be wearing this thing all night in a crowd full of sweaty teenagers, then he was going to need something with a little more breathing room for his inevitable panic attack. 

So, shoving away the thoughts of how ridiculous this whole thing was, Isaac changed into the other suit. The button-up was missing a few buttons but he could sew new ones with minimal effort. It fit better than the other one had and didn’t cut off his air supply. Plus, the waistcoat somehow made him look less like a scrawny kid playing dress-up and more like someone who actually had it together. 

Looking at himself in this suit, Isaac could imagine himself as the kind of guy you’d have feelings for. Not a guy like Stiles because that would make him throw up, but someone charming. Maybe even eloquent. The kind of guy that didn’t live in his older brother’s shadow or own three different copies of Persuasion (one was a library book he forgot to return, one had been his mom’s, and the other just had a nicer cover than the rest). 

In this suit, Isaac had a nicer cover than he usually did.

Realizing that he’d probably spent like five minutes just staring at himself and twisting one of the broken buttons, Isaac raced to get changed. He threw the suit to the side and jumped into his jeans and pulled on his baggy gray t-shirt. Isaac was in the process of pulling on his hoodie and forcing the suit back onto its hanger when he stepped out of the changing room and almost knocked you off your feet. 

Reflexively, Isaac grabbed you to keep you from falling over. He stammered out several apologies as his heart exploded, but all you did was laugh. 

“It’s okay, promise,” you said with a smile. You held onto Isaac as you got back to your feet. After several seconds of awkward silence, you asked, “So did either of them come out ‘not terrible?’”

“Uh, yeah.” Isaac held out the crumpled suit to you. “This one’s not so bad.” 

“Not so bad,” you echoed, taking the suit from Isaac and smoothing it out. “We’ll take it!”

Isaac couldn’t help but laugh. You were adorable and very, very far out of his league. Still, he hung up the rejected suit and met you at the counter to pay. 

He was so preoccupied with thoughts of accidentally injuring you that he didn’t notice that you’d already bought something. When Isaac asked about it over celebratory frozen yogurt, all you said was that you needed something for the dance, too. 

---

Isaac had never been someone with high hopes. He’d given up on anticipating the future ever since he was thrown into a grave and turned into a werewolf; but, still, he found himself with some very unrealistic expectations of how the dance would go. Chief of which being that you’d ditch Stiles and confess your undying love to Isaac. 

Actually, not ‘undying’ love because the universe might take that as a sign to make you immortal or something, and that kind of information wasn’t something Isaac thought he could recover from. 

His other expectations, supernatural dilemma aside, were to get through the night without bleeding and to, maybe, hopefully, get to dance with you before leaving early. 

Two very simple hopes that went unfilled. 

First, Stiles was an asshole and hung around you the whole night. His presence made it impossible for Isaac to talk to you about anything other than the decorations and, if that wasn’t annoying enough, Stiles barely even looked at you. You didn’t mind and Erica didn’t even seem to notice his staring, but Isaac noticed. Isaac minded. 

Seeing as it was unlikely that any declaration of love, undying or not, was going to made with Stiles Fucking Stilinski jumping around like a kid on a sugar high, Isaac excused himself to get something to drink and maybe punch a wall. You seemed disappointed - not at the wall punching, because Isaac didn’t mention that, but at his leaving. Still, you let him go with a smile nonetheless.

Isaac smiled, too. It felt like all he’d been doing the whole night was smiling, even when you gave him your sympathies about Erica not being his date. He was going to explain everything to you right then and there when Stiles had shown up with his stupid hair and frustrating jokes. 

The punch had a sharp, bitter taste that wasn’t there at the beginning of the night and Isaac pulled a face. His dislike of alcohol wasn’t because he was worried about getting drunk (his supernatural metabolism made sure that was never a possibility), but because he just didn’t like the taste. Thanks to his dad, he’d been around the stuff long enough for it to lose its appeal. 

Dumping his glass in a potted plant, Isaac turned back to survey the gym. He’d just spotted you in the crowd when Erica and Boyd materialized on either side of him. Erica grabbed his now empty cup and threw it to the side. 

“Hey!” Isaac whined. 

“We have to go,” she said in her black and blue voice. “Derek needs us.” 

Of course, he did. Heaven forbid Isaac had one night free from Hale drama. “Right now?”

“Right now,” Boyd repeated. “The hunters are making their move and Derek says there’s another wolf pack. He can’t take them all by himself. Sorry, man.” 

Erica put her hands on Isaac’s shoulders and steered him towards the dance floor. “So go tell your sweetheart that there’s a family emergency and meet us outside, okay?” She shoved him into the floor before Isaac had the chance to argue. 

Isaac wasn’t sure where you came from, but you caught him before he landed on his ass, at least. Your face was full of concern as you helped Isaac stand back up and asked what was going on. 

Casting a look over his shoulder, Isaac couldn’t find Erica or Boyd. They were already on the move and Isaac didn’t have time to explain everything. “I’ve gotta go,” Isaac interrupted you. He let out a breath as he turned back to you. Then, with a painful smile, he added, “Family emergency.”

“Oh,” you said. You blinked hard as you thought of something else to say. “Do you need a ride?” 

“No, Erica and Boyd are already outside,” Isaac said. It was hard for him to focus on you over the sound of the music and his beating heart. “I, uh- I’ve had a lot of fun with you these past few weeks. Thanks.” 

You nodded, looking down at your intertwined hands for a second. You gave his hands a squeeze. “Me too,” you said. “I’ll see you on Monday?” 

“Monday,” Isaac lied with a bittersweet smile. He decided, since he was most likely going to be killed in the woods in seventeen minutes anyway, to do something that he’d never dreamed possible. 

Letting go of your hands, Isaac stepped forward and kissed your cheek. He disappeared before you had the chance to say anything. 

If the night had ended there, it wouldn’t have mattered much that none of Isaac’s hopes had been met because at least he’d gotten to kiss your cheek. The problem was that, like most nights, it didn’t end when Isaac wanted it to. 

The night kept going, and Isaac got shot with arrows and electrocuted with arrows and mauled by some out of control werewolves. He’d lost Erica and Boyd somewhere in the chaos and he’d never even found Derek to begin with. The night kept going, and Isaac was bloody and alone. 

He couldn’t go back to the loft, purely because he wasn’t strong enough to make it there. He had no idea where the root cellar was. The night kept going, and Isaac was bleeding out with nowhere to turn. 

Still, he ran. 

Isaac had survived so much in his short time on this goddamn bitch of an earth, and he wasn’t about to give up because his spleen had ruptured or because he had no idea where he was. No, Isaac ran because - despite everything - he wanted to live. 

He ran and ran until he eventually found something familiar. Unluckily, it wasn’t the hospital or the animal clinic but your house. Isaac would have kept running if he thought his leg could make it, but he knew they couldn’t. 

So, Isaac made the agonizing journey up to your front door. He rang the bell. You’d just opened the door, and all Isaac managed to get out was: “I didn’t know where else to go.” 

And then he collapsed. 

Part 5

Tagged:  @lettherebelovex​  @britty443​  @ietss​  @magnus-the-fabulous-entp-bane​  @chocolate-raspberries​  @jellybelly-jones  @f1nal-g1rl​

[iphisquandary]

Hi Iphis, I hope you're doing well. I'm wondering if you have any advice or warnings or anything about working at a tutoring center? I'm about to graduate with some informal teaching experience & am on the market for education/tutoring/etc jobs. I've seen you post a lot about yours - not sure if you still work there - and would appreciate it tons if you're able to reply!

Yeah, sure! I have a lot of advice I can give about that. I worked at a tutoring center for three years and had a lot of ups and downs from the experience. This is way too long btw because I am a long-winded person by nature.

Positives

1) You don’t have to find your own clients, which CAN lead to more job security

One of the tricky things about being freelance is you have to find all your clients yourself and make a name for yourself and slowly build a client base and positive reputation.The company will do this legwork for you. Emphasis on CAN because at least in the case of the company I worked for, how many hours you get is based on how much students request you, which meant that tutors start out with low hours and gradually build a client base if they’re good at what you do–it’s just easier than doing it on your own

2) It’s a good way to figure out if teaching is right for you

Tutoring one-on-one is less high stakes and overwhelming than throwing yourself in to teaching an entire class at say a private school that doesn’t require a credential. it’s a good way to get a feel for what age group you like best and whether you enjoy teaching or working with kids

3) it’s a good way to get experience

Tutoring gives you opportunities to try your hand at lesson planning and building your skills and it’s something impressive to put on your resume if you want to get into education. During my time at my tutoring job, I mastered teaching grammar, college essays, and school essays. I developed some of my own material and became an expert in teaching certain skills and concepts

4) It’s super flexible

If the company is anything like mine, you pretty much get to choose when you work and how often. Vacation days are easy to snag, as long as you give them notice. Hours can be inconsistent when you’re new, but it’s flexible.

5) The students are amazing

Most of these students are driven to learn–they’re willing to put in extra hours of cram time to get higher grades or test scores or get into a better college. Every once in awhile you’ll meet a dissatisfied kid whose parent is forcing them to be there but mostly, these are kids with parents who are OVERLY invested in their education and that impacts the student. These are bright kids with a lot to offer.

Negatives

1) They’ll probably underpay you

Even though the job likely pays more than a lot of other jobs available to you, considering the specialized work you are doing and the going rate for tutoring, they’ll probably underpay you. Since it was one of my first jobs that paid that much, I thought that was a sweet deal. Now that I have more experience, I know tutors deserve a lot more than these companies pay. It’s especially glaring  because they tend to charge parents about three times more than what they are paying you and tend to have you tutor three students at once. You do the math. Also, I got less than a dollar’s raise during my entire three years there 

2) They will probably undervalue you

The company sees you as a replaceable cog in a machine, even though, if you have experience and have been there a long while, whoever they hire will need to be trained again and won’t know the material or students the way you do. Despite the fact you may be the only reason certain students keep coming back. Despite the fact you might bring something special to the company (I made material for the company, for example). They will never let you know how much you are worth. Because it is a profit-driven, soulless, money-making apparatus 

3) They WILL exploit you

They will drain every extra second of labor from you–even when it hurts the quality of your work. The 3:1 model most of these companies use, which essentially is you tutoring three students one on one  switching between them with completely different material, juggling an impossible level of tasks, reduces the efficacy of your teaching. It took me probably two years to fully master being able to teach well in that model. This means you will likely feel frustrated at your quality of work. Also, they may pressure you into working unpaid hours. My company did that to me for years. They pressured us through various tactics, such as only paying us for the set hours our classes were scheduled and not prep time, only paying a set, puny amount of time for prep, penalizing for going over time, giving you material to read at home unpaid, etc. 

4) Consistent hours are not guaranteed

At tutoring centers, hours correlate with demand–the demand of students for you or your subject specifically, the demand of the company for more labor, and the demand of local students and parents for tutoring in general. Hours can fluctuate by season. Usually at the beginnings and endings of semester, my hours dwindled. At my tutoring center, we got more hours during school vacations, since helicopter parents sent their kids during free time for tutoring. But I had periods of time, especially during my first year or two, where I went without much pay because my hours were reduced during dry periods.

5) There is a questionable moral component to what you are doing

Some of these kids are being pushed to the brink by insanely demanding parents who send their kids in during vacation, when they are sick, when they are burnt out, etc. Sometimes these parents even abuse their kids, but you can’t really do much unless you decide to report it. You may have to teach students with disabilities you are not qualified to work with. You may notice weaknesses and errors in the material at the company. You will also likely not be adequately trained. The 3:1 ratio, lack of training, and your lack of experience means the quality of your work will suffer at times. These companies also use deceptive practices to hook in families and get them to sign exorbitant contracts.Considering all that, there may times you wonder if your students benefit from what you are doing, particularly if they’re doing test prep.

BUT if you are good at and passionate about teaching, you can help students learn and grow despite all that. Ignore the bottom line your boss gives you and the pressures of parents as much as possible. Focus on having fun with students and having them walk away knowing something new they might use. In that way, I think I did more good than harm. Because while the company will do all it can to make you forget this, the tutors are its ONLY valuable resource. Despite the lack of training, experience, and insurmountable tasks we were given, practically every tutor I met cared about their students and did good work. The company model and culture around test prep and cram school is what hurts the kids. Just be aware that while it can be a blast working with students, and  it’s what literally pulled me out of my depression and the reason I am in this teaching program now, the company you work for is evil. For-profit education is a sham. Tutoring the students = awesome. The company = shit.

My biggest pieces of advice

1) Don’t work too long at one of these companies if you can help it - I probably should have left after two years - they do not recognize longevity, seniority or experience and while you can gain really useful experience, it has diminishing returns after a point. pay attention to when you stagnate

2) Don’t get too invested - do your best, but within reason - you can give and give and the company and students will take and take - I worked free hours with students online during crunch time for their college essays, I devoted extra hours to lesson planning, i’d take calls and emails from my boss at all hours, etc - people just keep taking. set boundaries when you can. 

3) Try to make it a side-gig, if possible - with its flexible hours, i actually think this type of job is perfect as a part time gig while you’re in school or on the side with another job - that will prevent you from getting too invested or too exploited or stressed or burnt out or over-relying on the position when hours dwindle

4) Don’t talk to the parents- if your company is anything like mine, the admin side does all the communication with parents and this is one god-send about these companies, you don’t have to deal with these crazy ppl. limit yourself to a quick hello/small talk and even then BE CAREFUL they may try to harangue you

5) Have fun and be you - make the lessons fun for YOU and the student, teach your style - as long as you’re good at what you do and the students like you, they’ll keep coming back. the admin people don’t know shit about education and they will try to tell you how to do your job, but once you hit your stride, be confident and know that you’re the teacher

6) REMEMBER YOUR VALUE - know that this job has a steep learning curve and any initial difficulties you face are not your fault. especially as time goes on, you will be good at what you do despite what anyone says. You are always worth more than how people treat you in that job. Always. 

TL;DR the students are great; at one time they were literally my only reason for being alive, and if you’re new to education you can learn A LOT, and the job is way flexible, but the companies are evil and soul-sucking, so do your best to protect yourself and get what YOU can out of the job enrichment-wise. leave when it’s no longer beneficial to you. 

Sorry that was so long! I hope that was helpful!

[kennethherrerablog]

Attention, Teachers: Need Cash This Summer? Try One of These 26 Side Gigs

While many of us dream of having the summer months off, some teachers prefer to use their vacations to earn extra cash.

According to a Penny Hoarder analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, the median salary for teachers (elementary, middle and secondary) is $51,000, and the starting salary comes in at $35,800. So it’s no surprise that one in 10 educators works a second job during the summer. Not only that, teachers are twice as likely to work a second job than people in any other occupation.

Working during the summer can help you keep your teaching skills sharp and can even help you learn a few new things — preferably with someone else footing the bill.

You’ll find no shortage of summer jobs for teachers or educators. Many of these opportunities will give you a modest income without a lengthy commitment. When the summer’s over, you can resume your day job without having to worry about quitting or keeping a second job.

Ready to find your new summer job?

Jobs That Will Keep You Teaching

For some teachers, summer is a time to get away from their regular day-to-day work. But for others, teaching is what gets them going in the morning. These jobs will bring in extra income while fulfilling that desire to keep teaching.

1. Teach English as a Second Language

Want to strengthen your teaching skills while earning extra money? Look for opportunities to tutor English as a second language (ESL) students locally and online.

You can contact large corporations in your area that may relocate foreign employees to your city and inquire whether they need a freelance ESL tutor to help their staff brush up on their language skills. Or go online and connect with students all over the world through sites like GoFluent and QKids.

One former public school teacher earned over $500 a week teaching English to Chinese students through VIPKID.

2. Offer Tutoring

School may be out for the summer for you, but that doesn’t mean students don’t still need a helping hand. If you just don’t get enough of teaching during the school year, tutor in your subject to make extra cash.  

If you want to offer in-person tutoring, start by spreading the word with your students’ parents during the school year so they know who to call when summertime rolls around. And of course, shamelessly publicize your tutoring skills to friends and family who have children.

A great thing about tutoring is you can set your own rates, with tutors typically charging anywhere between $30 and $90 per hour, depending on the subject, according to Tutors.com.

And if you’d like to tutor without actually having to leave your house, consider online tutoring instead. There are a ton of websites that hire online tutors. Here are some of our favorite online tutoring companies.

3. Become a Test Prep Instructor

This is similar to tutoring, but with a little twist. As a test prep instructor, you can still flex those teaching skills but take a little break from teaching the same stuff you do during the regular school year.

Depending on your area of expertise and skill level, you can earn income over the summer helping students prepare for the ACT, SAT, LSAT, MCAT or GRE.

Again, you can simply spread the word through friends and family to tutor locally, which means you can set your own rates. Or you can turn to a national organization that is regularly hiring, such as Kaplan Test Prep, where tutors earn anywhere from $17 to $28 per hour, according to Glassdoor salaries.

4. Teach Abroad

Why limit your summer job search to the U.S.? You’ll find many great opportunities for teachers to work abroad during the summer months.

While paid short-term positions can be hard to come by, volunteer programs, especially those teaching English, are plentiful in certain regions of the world — plus, you’ll get to travel. Some programs will even pay for your expenses. Go Overseas lists a ton of volunteer teaching opportunities abroad.

5. Coach Youth Sports

Coaching youth sports during the summer is another opportunity that allows you to continue working with and instructing children — just in a different way from your regular job. Sure, it’s not teaching long division, but spending the summer imparting athletic and teamwork skills to children can be just as challenging and rewarding.

Plus, you get to watch kids run around playing sports, which is always adorable. A 6-year-old in an oversized, bobbling baseball helmet? Forget about it.

Check with your community recreation centers, churches and camps to find open jobs.

6. Work as a Nanny or Baby Sitter

Technically, this isn’t a teaching gig, but as a nanny or baby sitter you’ll still be working with children and informally teaching them along the way.

You can either find a regular full-time nanny job working for parents who prefer that to traditional day care or just pick up baby-sitting gigs here and there when you feel like making some extra cash.

Start by spreading the word through friends and family, and be sure to mention your teaching position so you have an edge over teenagers willing to do the job cheaply. You can also check out sites like Sittercity to find jobs in your community.

Online Summer Jobs for Teachers

Looking for a summer gig that earns you some extra cash — but doesn’t require leaving the house? We’ve got you covered.

7. Sell Your Lesson Plans Online

I love opportunities to leverage what you already have for passive income. You’ve already done the work. Why not make the most of it?

Take those lesson plans and worksheets you created during the school year and upload them to a site like Teachers Pay Teachers. You will earn 60% to 85% on each sale of your education resources. And this is an opportunity that can continue to bring in additional income year-round without any extra work.

“I only sell digital products, so I don’t have to mail anything,” Meredith O’Neill, a middle school teacher who sells her resources on the site, told us in May 2017. “The sale and the transfer of my work happens automatically. The payment goes straight to my PayPal account after TPT takes its cut. It’s extremely easy once your store is created and your work is loaded.”

8. Write and Edit Resumes

If you’ve got writing skills, you can earn extra cash writing and editing resumes. For some (read: a lot) of us, crafting a resume is like pulling teeth, and people are willing to fork out funds for a final product they feel will help them land a job.

This is a good summer job to pursue if you’re interested in part-time work that you can pick up on your own time.

Your personal network is a good place to start, and your teaching background will give you an edge. You can also list your services on freelance platforms such as Upwork, Thumbtack and Fiverr.

Fiverr user Charmaine Pocek started writing resumes and cover letters for $5 a piece. Within six years, she was charging $30 to $800 for her services and has since earned over $2 million through the site, according to Fiverr.   

If you’re interested but need a little refresher on resume writing, check out this step-by-step guide.

9. Work as a Website Tester

You probably already spend a good amount of time browsing the internet and using phone apps, so why not get paid for it? Companies want to know how users interact with their websites and what can be done to make them more user-friendly.

All you have to do is browse and navigate websites and then provide honest feedback. You won’t get rich testing websites — expect to earn between $5 and $10 for each test.

UserTesting pays $10 for every 20 minute test; UserFeel pays $10 for every 10-20 minute test; and User Test pays around $10 per review.

10. Look Into Work-From-Home Jobs

You spend the school year commuting, so consider spending the summer earning extra income from the comfort of your own home. You’d be amazed how many companies regularly hire work-from-home employees, and with such a broad selection you can find an opportunity that fits your skill set.

Customer service, copy editing, travel consulting, coding, part-time, full-time, seasonal, freelance… honestly, the internet is your oyster. You can start with our Work-From-Home jobs portal to find a gig.

And if you’ve never forayed into the remote work life before, take some time to go over our work-from-home guide. It covers topics such as insurance, scams, taxes and how to find a job that fits your lifestyle.

Summer Jobs in the Great Outdoors

It’s summertime and you probably spend the rest of year cooped up in a classroom. Why not spend your months off in the great outdoors and earning extra cash at the same time?

11. Camp Counselor

If you love fresh air and sunshine, consider getting a job at a summer camp.

Writer Amanda Simkin spent three summers working at a summer camp during her eight years of teaching. “Working at a summer camp is a great supplemental job because sometimes you just want to get away from the classroom and interact with kids in a more fun-focused and laid-back way,” she explains.

Here’s how she recommends you find a job. “I learned about openings through word of mouth, but nowadays you can use social media, such as park district websites, Facebook, even Craigslist to find openings,” she says. You can also check with your local YMCA, community organizations and churches.

12. Local Tour Guide

Know all of the hot spots and hidden gems in your city or neighborhood? Then consider becoming a local tour guide. It’s a great way to enjoy the weather, the scenery and good company (hopefully) while earning extra cash.

Another neighborhood-based gig that’s similar to becoming a tour guide is Yelp’s community ambassador program. The company hires people in each city to host events, partner with local organizations and act as an online moderator. It’s a flexible gig, usually 15 to 20 hours per week.

13. Whitewater Raft Guide

This is the perfect job if you want to work in the great outdoors but you’re also looking for an adventure. But be warned: The job is intense and physically-demanding. It also requires long hours and certain qualifications, depending on your state.

Hiring for river guides really amps up around June and July, and recreational hiring in general grows an average of 68% in the U.S. around this time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The river-rafting season typically runs from June to September, making this a perfectly complementary job for teachers looking to earn a summer income. In fact, Idaho river guide Hardy Bender says a lot of guides seek out teaching jobs purely so they can have the summers off to hit the river.

14. Lifeguard

Like river guiding, this summer job for teachers gives you the perks of getting paid to enjoy the water and sunshine but in a more controlled environment.

Summer is the busy season, so check with city-operated pools, recreation centers, water parks and country clubs for seasonal lifeguarding jobs. Or if you’re blessed enough to live on the water, you can spend the summer working on the beach.

The pay for lifeguards varies depending on your location, skill level and employer, but you can earn anywhere from $9 to $25 per hour, according to Glassdoor salaries. Just remember, there are certain certifications and training to complete before you can get that telltale red suit and whistle.

15. Dog Walker

Honestly, who doesn’t want to get paid to hang out with dogs in their spare time? Well, maybe cat people… but they don’t count.

Start by offering your services to friends and family who don’t have the summers off. They may jump at the chance for someone to take their beloved pups out for a walk on long work days.

You can also sign up for Rover.

The online network connects dog walkers and sitters to local dog owners through its 4.9-star-rated app, so you don’t have to staple flyers on every utility pole across town.

Rover says sitters can earn as much as $1,000 a month.

Rover dog-sitter requirements vary by location. In general, you must:

Be 18 years or older.

Pass a background check.

Have access to the Rover app (iOS or Android).

Here’s how it works: You’ll create an online sitter profile where you’ll answer questions about your experience with puppers and your schedule availability.

You can choose to offer a variety of services, including dog walking, overnight boarding at your home or theirs, and daycare. Boarding is the app’s most popular service, so offering it can get you more gigs. You set your own rates. (Rover keeps a small percentage as a service fee.)

Dog owners will reach out to you. Accept which gigs you want, then start snugglin’ pups. As soon as you complete a service, you’ll be paid within two days.

And if you don’t want to just stick to dog walking, you can expand your services and become a full-blown pet sitter — check this out for more information.

Jobs That Offer a Change of Pace

Maybe you want a summer job that breaks away from the standard tutoring gig. Here are some options all across the board, we’re sure at least one will catch your eye.

16. Drive for Uber or Lyft

If you want to make some extra cash without committing to a full-blown job, driving for Uber or Lyft is a legitimate option. Demand for ride-sharing has been growing like crazy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. To be eligible, you’ll need to be at least 21 years old with a year of driving experience, pass a background check and own a car made in 2007 or later.

We talked to Paul Pruce, who had been driving full-time with Lyft for over a year and earning $750 a week as a driver.

Best of all, he could do it on his own time. You can work days, nights or weekends — it’s up to you.

Because it’s easy to switch between apps, Lyft drivers often also sign up to drive with Uber.

17. Rent Out Your Driveway

No one wants to worry about feeding a meter while on vacation. If you live near an event center or stadium, rent out your driveway using sites and apps like JustPark or MonkeyParking — or go old school and simply post a “Parking” sign in front of your house. You may only earn $20 per day, but $20 is $20.

18. List Extra Space in Your House

Have a spare room? Might as well try to earn some money by listing it on Airbnb.

If you’re a good host with a desirable space, you could add hundreds — even thousands — of dollars to your savings account with Airbnb.

A few simple steps can make the difference between a great experience and a less-than-satisfactory one. We talked to Terence Michael, an Airbnb superhost based in Los Angeles.

Here are some of his tips:

Break out the labelmaker. “I have the entire house loaded with labels,” Michael says. “They look nice; they’re modern. This helps people feel less helpless.”

Be a good host, and stock your place with the toiletries you’d expect at a hotel — toilet paper, soap and towels. Here’s a little hack from Michael: “I order on Amazon and have it delivered when people are there.”

Be kind to your neighbors. “I say, ‘I’m not going to put anyone here who I think won’t be good for you,’” Michael explains. “And I turn a lot of big groups away, especially in Nashville. I don’t want anyone going to the cops or the city.”

(Hosting laws vary from city to city. Please understand the rules and regulations applicable to your city and listing.)

19. Rent Out Your Car

If you put Uber and Airbnb together and mix them up, the result is renting out your car for extra money. You’re earning extra income from your car, but in the passive way you rent out an extra room — you just have to be cool with strangers driving your car around.

One service to start with is Get Around. When signing up, you’ll list your car and its availability —plus, all cars on Getaround include primary insurance during rentals. Another to check out is TravelCar, a service that allows you to rent out your car while you’re on vacation.

20. Host Trivia

Consider yourself a “Jeopardy!” nut? Combine your love for trivia, wealth of teaching knowledge and ability to command a room to become a part-time trivia contest host. After all, coming up with a set up trivia questions isn’t too far off from crafting a quiz for your students.

Check with your local restaurants and bars to see whether they’re in need of a trivia host. Sure, you might find yourself working only one night a week, but it’s a fun way to flex your brain muscles and earn extra money.

This math teacher in Florida told us he earns $125 per week hosting trivia (and he also offers tips on how to do your best Alex Trebek impersonation).

21. Rent Out Baby Gear

Renting out baby supplies — what will they think of next? There seems to be a rental service for just about everything these days, and this one is great for anyone who can get behind earning some extra cash off of that unused baby stuff taking up storage space.

Companies like BabyQuip allow traveling families to rent strollers, car seats, cribs and other baby items instead of lugging around their own gear. So if you have baby equipment you’re not using, you can list it for rental.

Manuela Madrid, a stay-at-home mom in Brandon, Florida works less than 12 hours per month renting out her gear through BabyQuip, and earns between $120 and $180 with each fulfillment. BabyQuip users keep 80% of each reservation fee, but 100% of each delivery fee.

You can sign up for BabyQuip here, or check out these other options: Babies Getaway, goBaby and Traveling Baby Company.

22. Officiate Youth Sports Games

Aside from coaching, another way to get involved in youth sports over the summer is by officiating games. Plus, officiating gives you the involvement in local youth sports without having to offer as much commitment that coaching would demand.

One option is working as a youth baseball umpire, a gig that can earn you upwards of $50 per game, which are usually less than two hours long. Aside from directly reaching out to youth sport programs, you can reach out to your local umpire association to inquire about open positions.

Summer Jobs if You Want Some Me Time

Look, if you want to spend your summer months catching up on some much needed alone time, we definitely don’t blame you. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t earn some extra money along the way.

23. Write Book Reviews

Here’s a dream scenario: Spend your summer months getting paid to stay curled up with a good book. Freelance book reviewing won’t give you J.K Rowling-level finances, but it’s a great way to earn extra cash while doing something you love — and were probably going to do all summer anyway.

How much you can earn will vary depending on the publisher and your skill level, but you can typically look to earn anywhere from $5 to $100 per review. Plus, you’ll probably get the book for free. Score!

Here are some reputable websites and publishers that will actually pay you for book reviews.

24. House Sitter

If your summer months are going to be spent picking up odd jobs and side hustles, house sitting will fit into your schedule quite nicely — and it’s a great opportunity for some alone time.

Whether you’re spending the night in the home or just stopping in for a short while each day to bring in the mail, house sitting is a pretty easy way  to put extra pennies in your pocket.

Sure, you can go through friends and family, but the chances of that avenue offering paid gigs is slim. Check out professional sites that can connect you with potential clients in your area, like HouseSitter.com.

25. Transcriptionist

A transcription gig is perfect for teachers who just want to throw on a pair of noise-canceling headphones and block out the world for a bit.

You can typically find transcription jobs in three categories: general, medical and legal. Note that the latter two might require additional training or requirements, but that will depend on the employer.

Most transcription jobs are independent contract work, so you can set your own hours and work when you want. Just note that transcriptionists are usually paid by the audio hour, so the amount you earn in comparison to hours worked will depend on your transcription fee.

26. Deliver Food

We already talked about driving for Uber and Lyft, and this is kind of the same thing… except you don’t actually have to talk to people beyond the “Here’s your food, you’re welcome, bye.”

Working for food delivery services gives you the opportunity to pick up side-gig work when you feel like earning extra cash — while enjoying some me time. Uber Eats offers flexible food-delivery opportunities, as do GrubHub, Instacart and Shipt.

Kaitlyn Blount is a former staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.

Angie Nelson also contributed to this article.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

Attention, Teachers: Need Cash This Summer? Try One of These 26 Side Gigs published first on https://justinbetreviews.tumblr.com/

[dedicatedrambler-blog]

Rambunctious by me, published in the Hart House Review (2018)

Words:

Rambunctious Hadiyyah Kuma

My spelling bee medal is a paperweight for my calendar. You know how when you have a calendar near a window and when the window is open it blows up the pages so you can see the next month? I hate seeing the next month, it makes me think about what homework I will get and how much I will grow. My mom says I’m getting fat. February is my birthday, but report cards come out in February. So I put the medal there and Lilly comes over to teach me math and she’s like, “what’s the medal for?” She has blue eyes and they look darker when she’s in my room because the light sort of grabs them and then drops them like when you open and close a cabinet of metal dishes.

For a second I can’t remember but then she turns it over in her hands like it’s something delicate and even though it’s heavy and reads the little inscription. Even the font is like crap. It’s like a magazine for under-twelve-year olds. She reads it out loud in this proud way that sounds like love and I hate it.

“Bee Academy’s Spelling Bee. Third prize!”

She thinks it’s cute, I know she thinks it’s cute and adds to my character. Girls like her stay stuff like that because they read it in Teen Vogue I think. I tell her it was a long time ago. I tell her she doesn’t have to read it like that because it was only third place anyway. “I can’t even remember what the word was,” I say. She asks me how many other kids were in the spelling bee. I say I don’t know, I tell her it didn’t matter. She keeps pressing me, I don’t why she does that. Trying to suck all my feelings out, psychoanalysis or something. That’s not what she’s for, she’s here to teach me geometry.

So she keeps asking and then I say like, “maybe ten.” She keeps telling me that I should be proud of myself. It’s like when those people told me to make a list of all my accomplishments and look at it so that I would be more confident. My skills would come out in the list I guess they meant. I didn’t write it, besides, my mom thought that was stupid I could tell because she sucked her cheeks into her head.

Lilly, she dresses nice and she always has her hair up, not like mine. I’m a mess, she’s neat. She’s what my mom wanted for a daughter. Her hair is less frizzy than mine, so it’s easier to brush. My mom says to me, “be more lady like,” almost every day. I have to watch how I’m sitting on the couch. I have to brush my teeth without spitting too much. I can’t fart in front of my brother. I’ve never seen Lilly fart or spit but I know she has to because everyone in the world probably does. Except my mom doesn’t see everyone she just sees me and my brother.

Anyway, Lilly goes on a little more with that and then she says she’s thinking about what kind of kid I’d be in grade three. I say like maybe I would be exactly the same because it’ s only been four, five years anyway, but I know she doesn’t buy it. Sometimes she does this thing where she bites her nails until they’re stubs. I used to do that too, but I stopped so I beat her there. That’s not the only thing that’s not perfect about Lilly. She’s shorter than me, which is weird because I’m the shortest person in my grade. The night after I got a blood test, she comes over and tries to teach me about limits. I can’t think though, I keep looking out the window and feeling my chest with my thumb because it’s wound up, my chest. I heard it humming, a buzz inside of me like those big bugs that leave their skin all over the place. She asks me why I got a blood test and I explain that they wanted to see if the problem was in my head or my blood and she says “okay.” She doesn’t ask me anything else so I tell her how it was, getting blood sucked out of you through a thin plastic string. I wasn’t scared of the needle because my mom was there. When my mom is there I can get stabbed in the eye and still be smiling. Later Lilly says, “let’s just talk then, you seem distracted.”

So we talk and she asks me where my parents are from. I say my grandparents are from India because my mom told me not to answer that question if anyone asked, especially white people. She told me not to talk about my dad either, which is fine because I don’t want to. But Lilly picks up on things like that. I tell her about my dad and she holds my hand because she thinks it’s sad they’re divorced and my mom has that giant scar on her arm because he cut her there with a meat knife. It doesn’t hurt anymore. I feel good when she holds my hand but she doesn’t really know why she’s sad. She thinks she’s sad because she thinks I’m sad about it. I’m not sad about it. These things happen you know. I’m happy because it’s not happening anymore. I’m happy it did happen because it made my knuckles stronger. It makes me think people like Lilly are sometimes stupid. They get angry and sad and their eyebrows bunch up because they think that’s what I want. I don’t want anybody feeling like that for me. I decide I won’t tell her anymore stuff like that.

Lilly’s birthday is on a Tuesday so I buy her cupcake on the way home from our school. She comes around seven, a little later than usual because she was with her friends, Janey and Iara. I don’t like them too much because Janey doesn’t say hi to me when I say it to her on the street. Iara is okay, Iara asks me how I am, but she does it in the kind of way that makes me feel shorter than Lilly even though I’m taller than her. I ask the baker to put a one and a five in there because Lilly is fifteen, but she says the cupcake is too small for two candles but if I wanted to write her name on it it’d be an extra five dollars. I pay the five dollars because I like the shape of the ‘y’ at the end of her name.

Lilly likes the cupcake and gives me sort of a pat on the cheek which makes my body really hot and I have to swallow. I’m lucky I’m not a boy. You should see my brother at the beach, one time he ripped his swim trunks because he was looking at a girl with big boobs or whatever guys like. It makes me laugh when I think about it, but he was so embarrassed he actually cried in the bus home. My mom yelled at him for it, so I punched him on the shoulder to make him stop crying.

I watch Lilly eat the cupcake and crumbs fall out of her mouth and onto her lap in my bedroom. She’s wearing tight black jeans. I reach over like slow and brush the crumbs off her jeans slowly and she looks at me for a long time and then says she has to go. The next day Lilly calls over the phone and tells me that she’s been accepted to Peaman’s Prep in Victoria for her “studies” next year and that she has leave in two weeks because her family is moving to BC. The way she says it makes it sound like she’s being forced against her will, but I don’t think so because she sounded happy near the end. She sounded relieved. I know it’s probably a white people school so I search it up on Google and find a bunch of pictures of blonde girls in green checkered skirts and sweater vests. I wouldn’t wear a skirt if you paid me a gazillion bucks, but these people’s eyes are wide and their teeth are white so I guess they’re happy. She doesn’t come and see me before she leaves. I just know when she leaves because Janey and Iara really don’t talk to me anymore. They just look at each other and put their hands in their pockets. My mom says while I’m eating a chicken leg for dinner that my brother will tutor me now because she’s paying him five bucks a week. My brother changes the dial on the TV and rolls his eyes up into his shiny forehead when she says that.

The doctor’s secretary lady Angela calls my mom the same day Lilly leaves because they want to talk about the blood test results. We have to make an appointment for the next week. It’s going to rain three days next week so my mom chooses the day that it’s not going to rain. But I don’t care about any of that I’m not even thinking about that now.

I sit on my bed staring at the spelling bee medal from four years ago. Third prize. I don’t think I’m going to be first in anything for a long time, I just feel like that. I got a B+ on my last math test but that was four days ago. And a B is not first, it’s second. I remember the word now, “r-a-m-b-u-c-t-i-o-u-s.” Rambunctious. People always forget the ‘n.’ It makes me feel smart that I remember. I remember what it means too, “noisy and lacking in restraint or discipline,” I say it out loud so I can remember. My chest sort of unwinds. It’s quiet now, it’s not buzzing. The bugs are called cicadas and they are quiet now.

I call Lilly on the phone and ask her what rambunctious means. It’s quiet for a long time and then she says, “I don’t know.” She says it in a sort of sealed off voice, not like the one she uses when she talked to me about math. I don’t tell her what it means because she can look it up herself.

When I hang up I take the medal down. I push my shirt up and lie down with the medal on my stomach. It’s nice and cool and reminds me of Lilly’s fingers when she held my hand. Not Peaman Prep Lilly, the Lilly that thought third place was something special. Later, I take out my notebook and down write down names and words that I like. Rambunctious is the first, then my own name, then Lilly’s because I still like the ‘y.’ I’m going to write a story.

[delicatephantompeanut-blog]

Why Take the SAT 10 Important Reasons

 Why Take the SAT? 10 Important Reasons

SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips

The SAT is a daunting exam. Plus, it's not a direct part of your schooling, so why take the SAT? Well, as it turns out, there are plenty of good reasons.

On of the most significant reasons is how the test affects your college options, though there are other considerations, too. In this article, we'll talk about all the reasons to take the SAT, including why it might be a better test for you than the ACT.

#1: Most Colleges Require SAT Scores

If you're applying to college, you will almost certainly need to submit SAT (or ACT) scores. Now, any college that requires these scores will accept the SAT or the ACT (or both, if you're so inspired). No school will accept one, but not the other.

You should also be aware that there's a growing number of test-optional and test-blind schools out there—schools that either don't require or else don't even want your test scores.

However—and I really want to stress this point—these schools remain the exception, not the rule. For the most part, schools want (and even demand) to see those SAT or ACT scores.

Taking the SAT or ACT thus means keeping a considerable number of options open that would otherwise be closed to you.

#2: Some Scholarships Are Based Off SAT Scores

Some schools guarantee significant scholarship money based on qualifying SAT or ACT scores. This is huge: college price tags are not cheap, and you may as well give the SAT your best shot if it stands a chance of netting you a huge chunk of cash—or maybe even a full ride.

Despite what this picture suggests, money does not simply grow on trees.

#3: Some Jobs Require SAT Scores

This doesn't apply just to jobs in the test prep arena, either; a surprising range of companies ask job-seekers, from entry-level consulting applicants to senior-level banking applicants, to cough up old SAT or ACT scores.

It may not be standard practice, but you don't want to pass on the perfect job because an employer wants test scores and you don't have them.

#4: The SAT Does Not Have a Science Section

So far, we've focused on reasons you should take a standardized test, but this is one of the big reasons you might prefer the SAT specifically: it doesn't include a dedicated science section—while the ACT does.

Granted, the SAT does include some scientific reading passages and a little bit of data to interpret, but if every science class is your own personal nightmare, it might be wise to skip the ACT's 40-question, 35-minute Science section and take the SAT instead. For those who are not scientifically inclined, it's definitely the lesser of two evils.

#5: The SAT Is Taken at a Slower Pace

Now, the SAT is a little bit (and I do mean a little bit) longer than the ACT: five minutes longer without the essay, fifteen minutes longer with the essay. Given that, though, consider the following data on how many minutes and seconds are allocated to each question on either test. What you'll see is that the ACT is much more rushed.

If you get nervous or overly stressed under time constraints, the SAT is the test for you. You'll still have to compete with the clock, but it won't be as frantic as the ACT.

Time is precious on a standardized test.

#6: The SAT Organizes Its Reading Questions

SAT Reading questions come in the order of the progression of each passage, complete with line numbers to help you find the point of reference. The ACT is lacking these features; it involves a lot more scrambling to situate what the questions are even discussing. If the extra help that the SAT provides is important to you, consider taking the SAT rather than the ACT.

#7: The SAT Is Heavy on Algebra, Light on Geometry and Trig

Geometry and trigonometry are present on the SAT, but they are not as prevalent as they are on the ACT. Algebra, on the other hand, takes center stage on the SAT.

Almost everyone has some preference between algebra and geometry; if algebra is your favored subsection of math, the SAT will let you shine.

#8: The SAT Doesn't Cover As Many Math Concepts

For instance, logarithms, matrices, and graphs of trigonometric functions are all absent from the SAT (but present on the ACT). If you struggle with a few nitty-gritty topics like these but have mastered algebra reasonably well, the SAT might be the perfect test to take.

#9: The SAT Essay Is a Literary Analysis Task

You don't have to argue a personal opinion or pass a judgment about any argumentative case's moral superiority on the SAT essay. Instead, you're producing commentary on a piece of source text. With the ACT, on the other hand, you have to argue the relative merits of solutions to complex issues.

If you excel at literary analysis but shy away from debates, the SAT may just be the way to go.

Some people thrive on debate; others do not.

#10: Some States Require the SAT

If you're living in a state that requires the SAT, you don't have a whole lot of say in the matter — you'll have to take it. Since you'll likely spend some time class time practicing, you'll probably want to focus your test prep on the SAT as well.

You can reference our complete list of states requiring the test to see if you live in one of these states.

Conclusion: So Why Take the SAT?

Today, taking the SAT (or ACT) seems to be the decision most college-bound students make. There is, in fact, very good reason for this pattern; as discussed above, these tests can help you find your way into college, get a scholarship to pay for college, and even land a job down the road.

There are also some distinct reasons that the SAT may serve many students better than the ACT.

Whether you're wondering whether to take any standardized test or second-guessing your past decision to sign up for the SAT in the first place, you can use this article to review and consider the many merits of the test.

What's Next?

Wondering what all this means for the ACT? Take a moment to read about whether you should take both tests or only one.

This article has touched on how the two tests are different, but do also take some time to investigate the issue in more detail. We've got a comparison chart that should do just the trick.

Since math is a point of especial concern for many students, you may want to read a more detailed analysis of how ACT and SAT math are the same and different.

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article!

Vero is a firsthand expert at standardized testing and the college application process. Though neither parent had graduated high school, and test prep was out of the question, she scored in the 99th percentile on both the SAT and ACT, taking each test only once. She attended Dartmouth, graduating as salutatorian of 2013. She later worked as a professional tutor. She has a great passion for the arts, especially theater.

[devotedlyfadingfire-blog]

7 Styles of Learning

 7 Styles of Learning

7 Styles of Learning

When we first speak together a parent will sometimes ask me how I plan to teach their child, in case they decide to employ me as a tutor. My truthful answer is “It depends on the need, and on the child.” A tutor must assess what a student already knows and what he or she is expected to know. The last is done by looking at the lessons assigned, work done, the course textbook and/or syllabus. It is also important to analyze the learning style of the student as you work with them.

Would you be surprised to know that there are many ways to learn? Every person probably leans naturally towards one or more of these seven ways. Take a moment to read about the “types of learners” here in my blog and you may gain insight about yourself and/or your child. This is especially important for homeschooling parents who are designing the curriculum and daily activities.

Remember that it is common to have more than one style of learning:

1. Linguistic: a learner who loves to write, read, and tell stories. They tend to memorize places, dates, names, and other facts very easily. These people learn best by saying, hearing, and seeing words. They have a good ability to repeat back facts and stories they have been told, sometimes even word for word. If they write down a phrase, definition or word, it is locked into their memory. This learner is often an excellent speller and can be a star in spelling bees and creative writing class. If your child is a linguistic learner, you could incorporate more novels into an historical curriculum, or ask the student to rewrite a hard math problem into a story.

2. Logical: a learner who is very inclined to abstractions and mathematics. They enjoy solving problems, particularly ones which are math-related. These are learners who have many questions about how things work, “why?” and how things relate to one another. When young children they probably liked building blocks and pattern puzzles. Answer their questions with patience and teach them how to find answers for themselves using books, encyclopedias and the internet. This type of student learns best by categorizing, classifying, and working with abstract patterns or relationships. If he/she is primarily logical, you will want to emphasize charts, tables, and diagrams. Drawing Venn diagrams to help study facts can work well with a logical learner. 3. Spatial: These learners like to visualize. They spend a good part of their time most of the day dreaming, watching movies, and staying as far away from reality as possible. They are very good at working with colors and pictures, and using the "mind's eye." For them we can encourage using educational computer games, creative endeavors and artistic expression. They can seem “spacy” because they are hard at work thinking about a particular problem, but have yet to put it on paper. These types of learners are very artistic but may have difficulty expressing it. If they seem particularly "down", asking them to draw a picture will get you much further into the nature of the problem, than asking them to tell you about it. When learning a language use a picture dictionary with this type of student.

4. Musical: These learners may hum often, or like having music to study with. They notice details, pitches, and rhythms that escape others. They are excellent at keeping tune, and learn best through rhythm, melody, and music. For memorization techniques, ask them to write a song about the lesson (rap works well as a narrative), or teach them a song. Encourage their natural love of music, and try to incorporate music into as many lessons as possible.

5. Bodily: This type of learner is always on the moving, and has a lot of energy. They walk around, have to touch everything, and use body language to convey their feelings. A bodily learner would rather play sports or do a craft than sit and read. They need active education, and are sometimes thought to be "difficult students" when young because they have trouble being still in class. So keep them moving. Let them do more than one thing at a time. Allow them to use that extra energy to learn. We can incorporate sense development and interaction with space during their lessons. Keep lessons short (great advice for all young learners) at up to 20 minutes and change subjects frequently. Interdisciplinary lessons are successful with these learners. Play counting or word games in the pool. Take them camping to learn about geography and nature.

6. Interpersonal: These are the "social butterflies". They adapt easily to most social situations, have many friends and are excellent leaders. They are understanding, patient, and empathetic. They make good leaders because they can mediate conflict. In the family this person may be "the Peacemaker." We can encourage their love of people, and allow them to be with many different types of people. They will probably bring home different types of friends. Although this can be difficult for parents, it is important to support and accept them if possible. This learner does best in a group situation where they will compare, share and relate to others. If no group is on hand, don't be surprised to see them create one with stuffed animals or toys.

7. Intrapersonal: These learners are strong-willed and work best alone. They will be independent as they pursue one or more main interests and have a deep understanding of themselves. They are independent and original, the "strong, silent type" who will “stand out from the crowd” without even trying. They do best in self-paced instruction, individual projects, and working alone. We can allow this but should continue to encourage their socialization skills. Create safe, comfortable situations for them to socialize with peers, yet allow them to maintain their own space.

It pays to assess the type of learner involved and design lessons fitted to his or her learning style or styles if possible, especially in "homeschooling" and with the very young student. In reality, tutors are limited, since children must “on demand” deliver very specific work products to their teachers, whether they are in public or private schools. It is the rare teacher who gives the choice of essay, art piece, musical composition, dance recital or diorama! Usually a given type of work is due on a specific date and the student must accommodate.

We can encourage ourselves, and our children to try to develop in a style that is not our natural strength. And we can find the right tools and methods to use our naturally dominant learning styles to achieve personal success in our studies and our lives. I encourage you to find out which style of learner you are, or your child is. When you know, please tell your tutors and teachers so they can find great ways to incorporate the learning styles into their teaching for maximum effect!

Experienced, patient tutor -- Math, Test Prep: ASVAB, TEAS, GED, LSAT

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Deborah's Blog by Topic

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[officialqfabray-blog]

OOC: Q Bio.

Lucille Quinn Fabray October 12th; age: 26 Identifies as straight, at the moment.

BIOGRAPHY:

When Quinn (named Lucille Quinn Fabray) was born as the second daughter to Russell and Judy Fabray, they agreed that their family was complete. Russell had always wanted a son, but he fell in love with his daughters and spoiled them to no end. Quinn was raised in Bronxville, New York, while her father worked on Wall Street in New York City. Quinn was completely spoiled in every way. She had a horse, played piano and violin, played tennis and golf, and did ballet as a child. She liked performing, but once she was ten, her father took her out of dance to let her focus more on the sports aspect since she had talent there.

As she grew up, she realized that her life was already laid out for her. It was clear that grades didn’t matter because her father would pay her way to get into any school. It was also clear that it didn’t matter what she wanted to do as an adult. She was being groomed to attend college and achieve a degree in anything, but what was most important was being a good future wife and mother. Both her parents pressed the importance to Quinn that she always appear beautiful and to demand respect and attention from male companions.

At the beginning, Quinn was fine with that. After all, her older sister, Francine, followed those rules and she flourished. She went off to college at Brown and was engaged by her senior year. But, when it came time for Quinn to go to school, she found she actually wanted a career. She wanted to do something with her life. However, her interests were in English, Literature, and the Arts, but her parents both thought they were a waste of time. They were an okay hobby, but jobs for the poor or middle class. She needed elite status.

Quinn had worked hard on her grades in high school, even though she knew she didn’t have to, and it made her feel all the more better once she had been accepted into Yale. She felt she actually earned it herself. When she entered Yale, she was undeclared, but the pull toward the arts was strong and she took an acting class in her first semester. That was all Quinn had needed. Her professor said she had natural talent and beauty and pushed her into auditioning for the Yale School of Drama. She was ecstatic to get in, but that was short lived because when her parents found out, they were incredibly mad. Her father even threatened to stop funding her education, but he never did.

When Quinn graduated, she felt like a better person for it. She had done this all on her own. She hadn’t been pressured into it like she had with all of her activities as a child or teenager. She was finally in control of her own life. Which is why she moved west. She didn’t want to be on Broadway. She wanted to be in the movies and on TV. Her parents were even more upset at her decision to move and it made their relationship very strained. She realized the only reason her father never pulled his funding was because he assumed she was still going to settle and get married, like her sister, who was already married with a baby. But that wasn’t Quinn’s life and she moved to Los Angeles.

It was a slightly slow start for Quinn. She received small roles, but they were speaking parts that granted her a SAG card and got her a management team, which landed her a role on a short lived show where she met her future (now ex) boyfriend, Mike Chang. Quinn liked the relationship, Mike was a cool person and she enjoyed hanging with him. But once the show ended and other cameos pulled her from spending time with him, the media started to rip apart their relationship. There was too many rumors of cheating, which wasn’t happening, and her mother kept calling to tell her to break up with him, which was simply incredibly irritating, and Quinn decided they should just be friends. (note: this may be edited based on Mike’s bio)

Quinn began auditioning again and filmed two indie shorts, which were nice ways to flex her acting muscle as she tried to land her next big role. When her manager sent her her the sides to read for Ivy Grant for /Performing The Arts/, she was very excited. She felt she could easily pull from her experiences to act the crap out of the role. She auditioned and thought it was fantastic. They called her back to read again, however, this time it was for Lennon Cole. Quinn was surprised because she didn’t think she fit the type, but as she learned of Lennon’s background, she found she actually could identify very well with her. She read for the part and got it.

Again, Quinn’s happiness was short lived when her manager called and told her she didn’t want her to take the part. She said it had the potential to change her career path for the rest of her life. The character could be mean, sarcastic, rude and somewhat dragged through the mud, not to mention that she’s a lesbian. While Quinn was also was concerned about being type casted, she also didn’t like her management trying to control her like her parents did so she took the part. As she read over the script for the pilot, Quinn became a little more excited about her role. It was something different, not as easy for her as playing the pretty, bitchy blonde girl. If this was the start of a career with characters off the beaten path, Quinn was sure she was going to enjoy the walk.

YOUR CHARACTER’S HEAD CANON FOR THEIR CHARACTER:

Lennon Cole was a picture perfect daughter until she reached the age of twelve. It was then that she realized she was gay. There were signs before, finding she didn’t relate to her girl friends when they’d talk about cute boys and wanting to kiss them. But by the time she was twelve, she realized she did know what those girls were talking about, except that she wanted to kiss other girls, not boys.

She kept this hidden from everyone and found it difficult to stay in her friends group as she started to find all those girls very pretty. Their parents were friends with her parents, so they spent quite a lot of time together. It was when Lennon was thirteen that she started to rebel. It was slow, at first, as she dropped out of the hobbies her parents placed her in as a child. Then, she stopped hanging out with her friends and began to hang out with some of the burner kids at her prep school.

Lennon felt she didn’t fit in anymore, but with the burnouts, they all had troubles, and she did too. She didn’t fit in her family. She wasn’t Republican, she hated those ideals, and they way they treated anyone who wasn’t exactly like them. She was starting to be worried her parents would find out she was a lesbian and kick her out at any minute. The anxiety and stress made focusing in school difficult and Lennon started to skip class. When her parents found out about her grades dropping and skipping class, they grounded her and gave her a tutor.

That simply made everything worse. The extra attention was painful and while Lennon knew the answers to her tests, she started to fail them on purpose. She didn’t want to be in her dumb prep school anymore. It was too much pressure to hide who she was and not let anything slip. If anyone found out the real her, she knew it would get back to her parents and that would be the end of it. But her parents donating money kept Lennon there despite her attempts to get out.

Since that didn’t work, she cut her hair, she dyed it pink, and she made a point to get caught smoking in the bathroom. The smoking alone was enough to get her near expulsion but with the failing grades and the disregard to the dress code, her parents had to pull her out so she would not have expulsion on her permanent record. At a loss for what to do, Lennon suggested New Burton to her parents, knowing she’d fit in better there, and claimed that the fact that it focused on the arts would help with her self expression. She told them that was the main problem, she had no outlet for her creativity. They agreed in the hopes she would outgrow her phase and then be able to go back to another private school once her phase ran its course, but that has yet to happen.

Connections

Santana Lopez: Quinn has never met someone as bluntly honest as Santana. Sometimes she is just brutal, and though Quinn can appreciate and admire that quality, it sometimes rubs her the wrong way and they end up arguing. Most of the time, however, they get along well.

Kitty Wilde: Quinn’s not too modest to admit that she loves attention, and meeting a “fan” has certainly endeared Kitty to her more than she probably would’ve been otherwise.

Sebastian Smythe: The only person outside of Santana that can match Quinn in wit and snark is Sebastian, and unlike with Santana, she and Sebastian don’t really argue They’re just snark siblings as they like to call themselves.

Mike Chang: Quinn and Mike have known each other a few years, having been on a show together. The two also briefly dated before schedule and press got the better of them.

About Lennon Cole: Lennon’s parents are pretty much the epitome of wealthy, privileged Republicans. They have bigoted ideas, and the only reason they allow Lennon to go to New Burton for drama is because they hope her pink-haired, grunge phase will be over, but she’s a junior and hasn’t changed yet.

Why she’s at New Burton: Lennon’s concentration is drama.

The In-Crowd or Outcast? Outcast

Connections

Sadie Tilman (Marley): Sadie was this happy, sweet looking girl that Lennon was paired up with for a project, and honesty, she expected her to be annoying. Only she wasn’t. She was far more interesting than anyone Lennon had ever met, and she just wanted to spend more and more time with her. She’d spent a long time fighting her feelings for girls, knowing that her parents would go ballistic if they ever knew, but she couldn’t help but want Sadie. She has such strong feelings for her. She just isn’t always great at showing it.

Inez Santiago (Dani): Lennon isn’t stupid. She knew, even before she started dating Sadie, that Inez wanted to be with her. She knows that Inez is also trying to steal Sadie away, and the only thing stopping Lennon from going after her, is that Sadie would definitely break up with her.

Vera Kravitz (Rachel): Lennon was never really sure why Vera had decided to start slumming it. Maybe she just wanted a break from being fake and phony. Lennon didn’t really ask. She just saw that once she just let go of her “image” that Vera wasn’t all that bad.

[kennethherrerablog]

Attention, Teachers: Need Cash This Summer? Try One of These 26 Side Gigs

While many of us dream of having the summer months off, some teachers prefer to use their vacations to earn extra cash.

According to a Penny Hoarder analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, the median salary for teachers (elementary, middle and secondary) is $51,000, and the starting salary comes in at $35,800. So it’s no surprise that one in 10 educators works a second job during the summer. Not only that, teachers are twice as likely to work a second job than people in any other occupation.

Working during the summer can help you keep your teaching skills sharp and can even help you learn a few new things — preferably with someone else footing the bill.

You’ll find no shortage of summer jobs for teachers or educators. Many of these opportunities will give you a modest income without a lengthy commitment. When the summer’s over, you can resume your day job without having to worry about quitting or keeping a second job.

Ready to find your new summer job?

Jobs That Will Keep You Teaching

For some teachers, summer is a time to get away from their regular day-to-day work. But for others, teaching is what gets them going in the morning. These jobs will bring in extra income while fulfilling that desire to keep teaching.

1. Teach English as a Second Language

Want to strengthen your teaching skills while earning extra money? Look for opportunities to tutor English as a second language (ESL) students locally and online.

You can contact large corporations in your area that may relocate foreign employees to your city and inquire whether they need a freelance ESL tutor to help their staff brush up on their language skills. Or go online and connect with students all over the world through sites like GoFluent and QKids. One former public school teacher earned over $500 a week teaching English to Chinese students through VIPKID.

2. Offer Tutoring

School may be out for the summer for you, but that doesn’t mean students don’t still need a helping hand. If you just don’t get enough of teaching during the school year, tutor in your subject to make extra cash.  

If you want to offer in-person tutoring, start by spreading the word with your students’ parents during the school year so they know who to call when summertime rolls around. And of course, shamelessly publicize your tutoring skills to friends and family who have children. A great thing about tutoring is you can set your own rates, with tutors typically charging anywhere between $30 and $90 per hour, depending on the subject, according to Tutors.com.

And if you’d like to tutor without actually having to leave your house, consider online tutoring instead. There are a ton of websites that hire online tutors. Here are some of our favorite online tutoring companies.

3. Become a Test Prep Instructor

This is similar to tutoring, but with a little twist. As a test prep instructor, you can still flex those teaching skills but take a little break from teaching the same stuff you do during the regular school year.

Depending on your area of expertise and skill level, you can earn income over the summer helping students prepare for the ACT, SAT, LSAT, MCAT or GRE.

Again, you can simply spread the word through friends and family to tutor locally, which means you can set your own rates. Or you can turn to a national organization that is regularly hiring, such as Kaplan Test Prep, where tutors earn anywhere from $17 to $28 per hour, according to Glassdoor salaries.

4. Teach Abroad

Why limit your summer job search to the U.S.? You’ll find many great opportunities for teachers to work abroad during the summer months.

While paid short-term positions can be hard to come by, volunteer programs, especially those teaching English, are plentiful in certain regions of the world — plus, you’ll get to travel. Some programs will even pay for your expenses. Go Overseas lists a ton of volunteer teaching opportunities abroad.

5. Coach Youth Sports

Coaching youth sports during the summer is another opportunity that allows you to continue working with and instructing children — just in a different way from your regular job. Sure, it’s not teaching long division, but spending the summer imparting athletic and teamwork skills to children can be just as challenging and rewarding.

Plus, you get to watch kids run around playing sports, which is always adorable. A 6-year-old in an oversized, bobbling baseball helmet? Forget about it.

Check with your community recreation centers, churches and camps to find open jobs.

6. Work as a Nanny or Baby Sitter

Technically, this isn’t a teaching gig, but as a nanny or baby sitter you’ll still be working with children and informally teaching them along the way.

You can either find a regular full-time nanny job working for parents who prefer that to traditional day care or just pick up baby-sitting gigs here and there when you feel like making some extra cash.

Start by spreading the word through friends and family, and be sure to mention your teaching position so you have an edge over teenagers willing to do the job cheaply. You can also check out sites like Sittercity to find jobs in your community.

Online Summer Jobs for Teachers

Looking for a summer gig that earns you some extra cash — but doesn’t require leaving the house? We’ve got you covered.

7. Sell Your Lesson Plans Online

I love opportunities to leverage what you already have for passive income. You’ve already done the work. Why not make the most of it?

Take those lesson plans and worksheets you created during the school year and upload them to a site like Teachers Pay Teachers. You will earn 60% to 85% on each sale of your education resources. And this is an opportunity that can continue to bring in additional income year-round without any extra work.

“I only sell digital products, so I don’t have to mail anything,” Meredith O’Neill, a middle school teacher who sells her resources on the site, told us in May 2017. “The sale and the transfer of my work happens automatically. The payment goes straight to my PayPal account after TPT takes its cut. It’s extremely easy once your store is created and your work is loaded.”

8. Write and Edit Resumes

If you’ve got writing skills, you can earn extra cash writing and editing resumes. For some (read: a lot) of us, crafting a resume is like pulling teeth, and people are willing to fork out funds for a final product they feel will help them land a job.

This is a good summer job to pursue if you’re interested in part-time work that you can pick up on your own time.

Your personal network is a good place to start, and your teaching background will give you an edge. You can also list your services on freelance platforms such as Upwork, Thumbtack and Fiverr.

Fiverr user Charmaine Pocek started writing resumes and cover letters for $5 a piece. Within six years, she was charging $30 to $800 for her services and has since earned over $2 million through the site, according to Fiverr.   

If you’re interested but need a little refresher on resume writing, check out this step-by-step guide.

9. Work as a Website Tester

You probably already spend a good amount of time browsing the internet and using phone apps, so why not get paid for it? Companies want to know how users interact with their websites and what can be done to make them more user-friendly.

All you have to do is browse and navigate websites and then provide honest feedback. You won’t get rich testing websites — expect to earn between $5 and $10 for each test.

UserTesting pays $10 for every 20 minute test; UserFeel pays $10 for every 10-20 minute test; and User Test pays around $10 per review.

10. Look Into Work-From-Home Jobs

You spend the school year commuting, so consider spending the summer earning extra income from the comfort of your own home. You’d be amazed how many companies are regularly hiring work-from-home employees, and with such a broad selection you can find an opportunity that fits your skill set.

Customer service, copy editing, travel consulting, coding, part-time, full-time, seasonal, freelance: Honestly, the internet is your oyster. You can start with with our Work-From-Home jobs portal to find a gig.

And if you’ve never forayed into the remote work life before, take some time to go over our work-from-home guide. It covers topics such as insurance, scams, taxes and how to find a job that fits your lifestyle.

Summer Jobs in the Great Outdoors

It’s summertime and you probably spend the rest of year cooped up in a classroom. Why not spend your months off in the great outdoors and earning extra cash at the same time?

11. Camp Counselor

If you love fresh air and sunshine, consider getting a job at a summer camp.

Writer Amanda Simkin spent three summers working at a summer camp during her eight years of teaching. “Working at a summer camp is a great supplemental job because sometimes you just want to get away from the classroom and interact with kids in a more fun-focused and laid-back way,” she explains.

Here’s how she recommends you find a job. “I learned about openings through word of mouth, but nowadays you can use social media, such as park district websites, Facebook, even Craigslist to find openings,” she says. You can also check with your local YMCA, community organizations and churches.

12. Local Tour Guide

Know all of the hot spots and hidden gems in your city or neighborhood? Then consider becoming a local tour guide. It’s a great way to enjoy the weather, the scenery and good company (hopefully) while earning extra cash.

Another neighborhood-based gig that’s similar to becoming a tour guide is Yelp’s community ambassador program. The company hires people in each city to host events, partner with local organizations and act as an online moderator. It’s a flexible gig, usually 15 to 20 hours per week.

13. Whitewater Raft Guide

This is the perfect job if you want to work in the great outdoors but you’re also looking for an adventure. But be warned: The job is intense and physically-demanding. It also requires long hours and certain qualifications, depending on your state.

Hiring for river guides really amps up around June and July, and recreational hiring in general grows an average of 68% in the U.S. around this time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The river-rafting season typically runs from June to September, making this a perfectly complementary job for teachers looking to earn a summer income. In fact, Idaho river guide Hardy Bender says a lot of guides seek out teaching jobs purely so they can have the summers off to hit the river.

14. Lifeguard

Like river guiding, this summer job for teachers gives you the perks of getting paid to enjoy the water and sunshine but in a more controlled environment.

Summer is the busy season, so check with city-operated pools, recreation centers, water parks and country clubs for seasonal lifeguarding jobs. Or if you’re blessed enough to live on the water, you can spend the summer working on the beach.

The pay for lifeguards varies depending on your location, skill level and employer, but you can earn anywhere from $9 to $25 per hour, according to Glassdoor salaries. Just remember, there are certain certifications and training to complete before you can get that telltale red suit and whistle.

15. Dog Walker

Honestly, who doesn’t want to get paid to hang out with dogs in their spare time? Well, maybe cat people… but they don’t count.

Start by offering your services to friends and family who don’t have the summers off. They may jump at the chance for someone to take their beloved pups out for a walk on long work days.

You can also sign up for Rover.

The online network connects dog walkers and sitters to local dog owners through its 4.9-star-rated app, so you don’t have to staple flyers on every utility pole across town.

Rover says sitters can earn as much as $1,000 a month.

Rover dog-sitter requirements vary by location. In general, you must:

Be 18 years or older.

Pass a background check.

Have access to the Rover app (iOS or Android).

Here’s how it works: You’ll create an online sitter profile where you’ll answer questions about your experience with puppers and your schedule availability.

You can choose to offer a variety of services, including dog walking, overnight boarding at your home or theirs, and daycare. Boarding is the app’s most popular service, so offering it can get you more gigs. You set your own rates. (Rover keeps a small percentage as a service fee.)

Dog owners will reach out to you. Accept which gigs you want, then start snugglin’ pups. As soon as you complete a service, you’ll be paid within two days.

And if you don’t want to just stick to dog walking, you can expand your services and become a full-blown pet sitter — check this out for more information.

Jobs That Offer a Change of Pace

Maybe you want a summer job that breaks away from the standard tutoring gig. Here are some options all across the board, we’re sure at least one will catch your eye.

16. Drive for Uber or Lyft

If you want to make some extra cash without committing to a full-blown job, driving for Uber or Lyft is a legitimate option. Demand for ride-sharing has been growing like crazy, and it shows no signs of slowing down. To be eligible, you’ll need to be at least 21 years old with a year of driving experience, pass a background check and own a car made in 2007 or later.

We talked to Paul Pruce, who had been driving full-time with Lyft for over a year and earning $750 a week as a driver.

Best of all, he could do it on his own time. You can work days, nights or weekends — it’s up to you.

Because it’s easy to switch between apps, Lyft drivers often also sign up to drive with Uber.

17. Rent Out Your Driveway

No one wants to worry about feeding a meter while on vacation. If you live near an event center or stadium, rent out your driveway using sites and apps like JustPark or MonkeyParking — or go old school and simply post a “Parking” sign in front of your house. You may only earn $20 per day, but $20 is $20.

18. List Extra Space in Your House

Have a spare room? Might as well try to earn some money by listing it on Airbnb.

If you’re a good host with a desirable space, you could add hundreds — even thousands — of dollars to your savings account with Airbnb.

A few simple steps can make the difference between a great experience and a less-than-satisfactory one. We talked to Terence Michael, an Airbnb superhost based in Los Angeles.

Here are some of his tips:

Break out the labelmaker. “I have the entire house loaded with labels,” Michael says. “They look nice; they’re modern. This helps people feel less helpless.”

Be a good host, and stock your place with the toiletries you’d expect at a hotel — toilet paper, soap and towels. Here’s a little hack from Michael: “I order on Amazon and have it delivered when people are there.”

Be kind to your neighbors. “I say, ‘I’m not going to put anyone here who I think won’t be good for you,’” Michael explains. “And I turn a lot of big groups away, especially in Nashville. I don’t want anyone going to the cops or the city.”

(Hosting laws vary from city to city. Please understand the rules and regulations applicable to your city and listing.)

19. Rent Out Your Car

If you put Uber and Airbnb together and mix them up, the result is renting out your car for extra money. You’re earning extra income from your car, but in the passive way you rent out an extra room — you just have to be cool with strangers driving your car around.

One service to start with is Get Around. When signing up, you’ll list your car and its availability —plus, all cars on Getaround include primary insurance during rentals. Another to check out is TravelCar, a service that allows you to rent out your car while you’re on vacation.

20. Host Trivia

Consider yourself a “Jeopardy!” nut? Combine your love for trivia, wealth of teaching knowledge and ability to command a room to become a part-time trivia contest host. After all, coming up with a set up trivia questions isn’t too far off from crafting a quiz for your students.

Check with your local restaurants and bars to see whether they’re in need of a trivia host. Sure, you might find yourself working only one night a week, but it’s a fun way to flex your brain muscles and earn extra money.

This math teacher in Florida told us he earns $125 per week hosting trivia (and he also offers tips on how to do your best Alex Trebek impersonation).

21. Rent Out Baby Gear

Renting out baby supplies — what will they think of next? There seems to be a rental service for just about everything these days, and this one is great for anyone who can get behind earning some extra cash off of that unused baby stuff taking up storage space.

Companies like BabyQuip allow traveling families to rent strollers, car seats, cribs and other baby items instead of lugging around their own gear. So if you have baby equipment you’re not using, you can list it for rental.

Manuela Madrid, a stay-at-home mom in Brandon, Florida works less than 12 hours per month renting out her gear through BabyQuip, and earns between $120 and $180 with each fulfillment. BabyQuip users keep 80% of each reservation fee, but 100% of each delivery fee.

You can sign up for BabyQuip here, or check out these other options: Babies Getaway, goBaby and Traveling Baby Company.

22. Officiate Youth Sports Games

Aside from coaching, another way to get involved in youth sports over the summer is by officiating games. Plus, officiating gives you the involvement in local youth sports without having to offer as much commitment that coaching would demand.

One option is working as a youth baseball umpire, a gig that can earn you upwards of $50 per game, which are usually less than two hours long. Aside from directly reaching out to youth sport programs, you can reach out to your local umpire association to inquire about open positions.

Summer Jobs if You Want Some Me Time

Look, if you want to spend your summer months catching up on some much needed alone time, we definitely don’t blame you. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t earn some extra money along the way.

23. Write Book Reviews

Here’s a dream scenario: Spend your summer months getting paid to stay curled up with a good book. Freelance book reviewing won’t give you J.K Rowling-level finances, but it’s a great way to earn extra cash while doing something you love — and were probably going to do all summer anyway.

How much you can earn will vary depending on the publisher and your skill level, but you can typically look to earn anywhere from $5 to $100 per review. Plus, you’ll probably get the book for free. Score!

Here are some reputable websites and publishers that will actually pay you for book reviews.

24. House Sitter

If your summer months are going to be spent picking up odd jobs and side hustles, house sitting will fit into your schedule quite nicely — and it’s a great opportunity for some alone time.

Whether you’re spending the night in the home or just stopping in for a short while each day to bring in the mail, house sitting is a pretty easy way  to put extra pennies in your pocket.

Sure, you can go through friends and family, but the chances of that avenue offering paid gigs is slim. Check out professional sites that can connect you with potential clients in your area, like HouseSitter.com.

25. Transcriptionist

A transcription gig is perfect for teachers who just want to throw on a pair of noise-canceling headphones and block out the world for a bit.

You can typically find transcription jobs in three categories: general, medical and legal. Note that the latter two might require additional training or requirements, but that will depend on the employer.

Most transcription jobs are independent contract work, so you can set your own hours and work when you want. Just note that transcriptionists are usually paid by the audio hour, so the amount you earn in comparison to hours worked will depend on your transcription fee.

26. Deliver Food

We already talked about driving for Uber and Lyft, and this is kind of the same thing… except you don’t actually have to talk to people beyond the “Here’s your food, you’re welcome, bye.”

Working for food delivery services gives you the opportunity to pick up side-gig work when you feel like earning extra cash — while enjoying some me time. Uber Eats offers flexible food-delivery opportunities, as do GrubHub, Instacart and Shipt.

Kaitlyn Blount is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. Angie Nelson has been a virtual assistant and serial blogger since 2007, when she took her future into her own hands and found a way to escape the corporate cubicle farm. Visit The Work at Home Wife to learn about more opportunities to earn an income while keeping your personal freedom.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

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