Jil Desso has been an educator for the past 20 years working with students K-12 in the private and public school settings. Jil has an undergraduate degree in English, is certified K-12 in private school English, has a graduate level Special Education K-12 teaching certification, as well as an ESL K-12 teaching certification. Jil is the mother of two and has passed her love of literature, nature, travel, and compassion for all down to her children.  Below is her list of course offerings.

Study and Organizational Skills Workshops- (Grades 3-5) (Grades 6-8) (Grades 9-12)

Students will learn several different strategies to help them become more organized, both physically and mentally, to set them up for better success in and out of the classroom. Students will be given opportunities to develop their executive function and self-regulation skills. The topics we will cover are:

  • Time and task management
  • Organizing at home and school
  • Learning styles and self-advocation
  • Homework and project planning
  • Writing strategies
  • Note-taking strategies
  • Test-taking strategies
  • Paper organization
  • Memory and recall
  • Communication skills
  • Reading skills
  • Goal setting

Creative Writing Workshops-(Grades 2-5) (Grades 6-8) (Grades 9-12)

Students will learn strategies to assist with creative writing. These workshops will be fun and relaxed, with a focus on creativity.  The tools/strategies we will cover are:

  • Brainstorming
  • Visualization
  • Techniques (character and plot development, setting, theme, point of view, dialogue, metaphors and similes)
  • Reading aloud
  • Research (yes, there is research at times in creative writing)
  • Quick writes
  • Journaling
  • Outlining
  • Vocabulary
  • Rough drafts
  • Final Editing

Essay Writing Workshops-(Grades 9-12)

These workshops will be to help students write academic essays for school or for college applications. The areas we will cover are:

  • Understanding what type of essay it is (analytical, expository, argumentative)
  • Picking a topic
  • Outlines and diagrams of ideas
  • Write and develop a strong thesis statement
  • Review style, grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary
  • Introduction
  • Body
  • Conclusion
  • Finishing touches

Book Club-(Grades 1-2) (Grades 3-5) (Grades 6-8) (Grades 9-12)

As a group, we will pick an age appropriate book to read and discuss. We will set group guidelines to make sure our time is structured, yet fun. We will also brainstorm examples of appropriate and thought-provoking discussion questions depending on the genre of our book. This club may need to be broken up into groups depending on the interest and varying ages. We will be as flexible and as creative as the group allows with this club adding in fun activities where appropriate.

English Language Learner Workshop- (Grades K-12), will split into age/skill groups

Learning English as a second language has many areas of concentration and competency. This workshop will give students of all ages coming from varying home languages the opportunity to work on strengthening and improving their English skills. We will cover listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.