Rebecca O. › SmartSitting

Family Application

Acting, Singing, Reading, and General Homework Help Instructor

Click Here To Read My Full Bio!

I graduated from NYU in 2009 with a BFA in Drama. I've been caring for children of all ages for over a decade in Pennsylvania, New York City, and various vacation destinations. As an actor, I specialize in imagination games and playing pretend, and introducing or re-introducing children to their natural ability to create, explore, and inhabit new worlds of possibility. I've assisted with countless math problems, workbooks, French language conversations, and reading issues over the years, taking care to instruct each child without making them feel "dumb" for not knowing something. The learning process is extremely gratifying on both ends, and few things are more miraculous in this world than seeing the light in a child's face when they've gotten the answer or read the entire page by themselves. I pride myself on my ability to be a friend, instructor, and role model all at once.

The Basics:

B.F.A. in Theater from NYU, 2009
One year of experience coaching private acting sessions, and over ten years' experience helping children of all ages with their reading skills

Career Highlight:

One my students was playing Lady Macbeth in a shortened version of the play during fourth grade. During one lesson I introduced her to the idea of playing actions in a scene to get something you want, and how, once you identified what you were doing, it made every event follow naturally in sequence. When I came back for the next lesson, she had all of her lines memorized. When I asked her how she'd done it so quickly, she replied that since she knew what she wanted from Macbeth, what she was supposed to say next just came to her automatically. "I never thought of it that way before - it's so easy now!" It was an extremely gratifying moment for me.

Fall 2011 Availability:

My availability varies slightly from week to week but I'm typically free in the daytimes, and in the evenings given enough notice (48 hours if possible).

Available For:

I'm available month-to-month depending on my acting schedule - for the foreseeable future, I'm available at least until the end of 2011, if not longer.