Hello, I'm James
Hi. I’m James. I am a writing tutor, history teacher, ELA instructor, and test preparation coach at MOONMAKERS EDUCATION.
I bring extensive experience as an educator, writer, and editor, along with a strong and practiced command of the English language. Over the course of my career, I have worked as a professor at a major university in the United States, served first as an editorial assistant and later as lead editor for two peer-reviewed journals, and created content for an online university course provider. I've even owned and operated a tropical boutique hotel and taught hands-on agricultural skills and nutrition in educational farm and community garden settings.
My Story
For the past five years, I have worked exclusively as a writing coach, history teacher, and test preparation tutor to Chinese and Chinese-American students ages 8 to 20. These days, I am delighted to put my writing, editing, and teaching experience to work helping students become more confident, capable writers and thinkers.
As a writing instructor and coach, my teaching style is patient, structured, and highly individualized. I teach everything from the basics of grammar to the fundamentals of paragraph writing to the art of crafting of complex, insightful long-form essays on subjects ranging from literature to hard science. I specialize in helping students develop clear, organized, and persuasive writing, whether they are working on school essays, application essays, history assignments, or standardized test responses.
As a history teacher, I encourage students to think about the historical patterns and perspectives that are so much more important than merely memorizing names and dates. My goal is to help them understand the larger patterns, environmental conditions, conflicts, inventions, and ideas that shaped the past—and to see how those lessons learned can help us think more clearly about the world today and our place in it. I especially enjoy helping students build historical thinking skills: identifying cause and effect, inferring and theorizing from archaeological and historical data, comparing civilizations, evaluating evidence, and explaining how prehistorical and historical events mattered then and still matter today.
As a proofreader and editor for older students’ high school and college writing, I aim to preserve each student’s own voice while helping them make their ideas clearer, stronger, and more polished. I focus not only on grammar and style, but also on structure, logic, organization, and tone. My goal is always to help students produce stronger work while also becoming more thoughtful, independent writers.
Above all, I want every student to leave my lessons not only with better papers, but with a stronger sense of how to think, organize ideas, and express themselves with clarity and confidence.