Miranda Farrow

Biography

I grew up in San Mateo, California, attending schools in the San Mateo Foster City School District, and I’m excited to return home after five years in Minnesota. There, I attended Macalester College, where I double majored in English Literature and International Studies, and benefitted from the school’s interdisciplinary focus: I learned that there is no singular approach to any subject, a perspective that allowed me to explore interests outside of my majors. I hope to similarly encourage students to explore topics outside of their comfort zones.

I have always loved to read and write, and I’ve been incredibly lucky to have some really amazing English and History teachers that encouraged this. In college, I took a special interest in early modern literature, a period that can be dense, but also deeply rewarding. I am especially interested in how literature can be made more accessible – the moment a student begins to understand a character, predict a plotline, or make a connection is incredibly exciting.

The SAT can certainly be intimidating, and I hope to break down that wall a bit. As a high school student, while I felt I could grasp the English content on the SAT, the math portion felt less within reach. The math strategies I learned were game changers for me, and I hope to help students feel confident in both sections. Through preparation and testing strategies, I believe any student can excel, so that the SAT does not feel like a barrier to college admission.

After graduating from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, I worked at an ELL school for newcomer students through an AmeriCorps program. I found that I really enjoy working with students one on one, where we are able to create connections between topics of study and the things they are passionate about, and to focus on specific areas that may be giving them pause. I worked with a wide range of students. Some were beginning to learn English, and teaching phonics gave me a new appreciation for the complexities of the English language. Some were graduating seniors, working to prepare lengthy research papers, and I developed strategies to ease the transition from mind to page. Writing something down can be intimidating, and I learned to bridge the gap between idea and essay.

Additionally, time management and organization were skills I focused on with many of my students. We developed individual plans to meet work completion goals, and I found that encouraging the student to brainstorm their own solutions to organizational issues can be very effective. I was trained in Motivational Interviewing strategies, which emphasize students’ personal agency and encourage positive change. I strongly believe that learning is fundamentally reciprocal.

Outside of AJ, I love to hike, travel, write, go to trivia, and take road trips – I’ve driven the 2,000 miles between Minnesota and the Bay Area eight times!