Eva Lynn Goldstein-Meola, M.Ed., founder and director of Open Tent Academy, teacher, keynote speaker, workshop speaker, private tutor as well as former homeschooling mother, has been in education for over thirty years. Eva holds her Bachelor’s Degree from University of Massachusetts at Westfield in Elementary Education 1 – 6 with a concentration in Reading, and her Master’s Degree from American International College with a concentration in Consulting Teacher in Writing and Reading K – 12. In addition, Eva trained with Andrew Pudewa and holds IEW Certified Teacher Certification.
Her teaching career began as a classroom teacher (grades 3, 4, and 6) and continued as a school wide reading specialist (grades 1 – 6). Along her journey in public education, she spoke at numerous Reading Conferences, such as the New England Reading Association and the Massachusetts Reading Association. Within her school, she established a Literacy Night as well as a Writer’s Overnight Retreat.
Over the past seventeen years, Eva has offered IEW writing classes, via both online classrooms with students spanning the world, as well as “face-to-face” sessions in Northern Virginia. Eva has been blessed to work with hundreds of students annually. In addition to teaching writing classes, she private tutors students to prepare them for the TJHSST Writing Exam, SAT, and ACT Writing portions and helps prepare students with their college essays.
Finally, Eva has spoken at several homeschooling conferences, SEARCH, ENOCH, MACHE and CHAP, on various topics dealing with the subject of writing.
With all this said, Eva’s biggest “accomplishment” was the opportunity to homeschool her own daughter, Shayna, who is currently working on her PhD with a full fellowship in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She fondly remembers the days of homeschooling. They were AMAZING.
For pleasure, Eva and her husband, Jonathan, love traveling internationally, relaxing on the beach, going to museums, attending the theater, playing Settlers of Catan and of course, reading a great book.
Eva passionately feels that all children can be given the tools they need to be successful readers and writers. To her, readers and writers aren’t born; they develop over time.
Reviews of Eva’s Courses:
Excellent class with clear and detailed guidance
I believe my rising 7th grader has greatly benefited from taking the summer Powerful Paragraphs class from Eva. There were precise and detailed instructions on brainstorming, constructing varied and expressive sentences, and usage of transitional phrases, all in the context of the different writing structures they studied each week. The weekly reviews of past lessons and the incremental addition of new stylistic techniques were great reinforcement for the concepts being thoughts. It was also useful to have the numerous sample writings provided for reference with each lesson. Through out the class, they kids had a growing list of “banned” words to encourage them to choose more expressive and nuanced alternatives (started with one or two and grew to maybe ~15). Overall, a great class for my child who is still in the early stages of honing his essay writing skills.
Unsung Heroes
My daughter loved learning about “unsung heroes” of the Civil Rights Movement: individuals who deserve recognition, but receive little in the history books. Ms. Eva ties in historical background information extremely well to the book to help understand the bigger picture to further appreciate Claudette Colvin’s courage.
10 out of 10!
My son just finished ESSAY INTENSIVE, a 10-week course focusing on Critique Writing, Expository Essays, Persuasive Essays, Compare/Contrast Essays and Narrative Essays.
I really appreciate what you have accomplished in the course of 10 weeks!
What a change I saw in my son’s writing.
He would never admit it, but I think that he even likes writing a little now that he understands how to write!
As with our original OTA class, this experience has been incredible!
Forget 5 Stars – it is a 10 out of 10 in my book.
Eva’s Literature Classes are Amazing!
All of Eva’s Literature Classes are amazing.
My daughter MOST RECENTLY loved learning about “unsung heroes” of the Civil Rights Movement: individuals who deserve recognition, but receive little in the history books. Ms. Eva ties in historical background information extremely well to the book to help understand the bigger picture to further appreciate Claudette Colvin’s courage.
She has taken HIDDEN FIGURES, TWICE TOWARDS JUSTICE, AMERICAN GIRLS, WONDER, FISH IN A TREE, TO HOPE AND BACK and REFUGEE with Eva.
Each class was better than the one before!
Do not miss out on Eva’s literature classes!
This class should be mandatory!
I signed up my 8th grader for this class because I wanted him to start thinking about his future.
What I didn’t expect is him initiating meaningful discussions about our cost of living inflation, budgeting, work-life balance etc.
My son will be attending a college prep high school this fall and has already told me he won’t “going to be an idiot who blows over $100 a month on lattes at the cafeteria”.
I am so thankful for this class.
It really got my son thinking about the future.
(Some of *) Eva’s Upcoming Courses:
-
Radical Readers: The Hate U Give$15.00 - Radical Readers: We Are Not From Here$15.00
- Radical Readers: Lies We Tell Ourselves$15.00
- Radical Reader – Taylor Before and After – July 13$15.00
- Radical Readers: All American Boys$15.00
- Radical Reader Book Club – 5 Pack – Summer 2023$60.00
- Notetaking 101 – Summer 2023$100.00
- This is Life – Summer 2023$150.00
- Musical Theater Hangout – Into the Woods$100.00
- Musical Theater Hangout – Little Shop of Horrors$100.00
- Musical Theater Club – Rent$100.00
- American Girl – Kirsten$60.00
- American Girl Club – Featuring Felicity$60.00
- Poetry — July 31 – August 3$60.00
- Plunge into Poetry- July 10 – 14$60.00
- How to Write the Perfect Paragraph – July 24 – 27, 2023$60.00
- How to Write the Perfect Paragraph – June 26 – 29$60.00
- So… You Think You Can Spell…. July 31 – August 3$50.00
- So..You Think You Can Spell – July 17 – 21$50.00
- So, You Think You Can Spell – June 26 – 29, 2023$50.00
- Magic Tree House – Mummies in the Morning – Summer 2023$60.00
- Magic Tree House – Knight at Dawn – Summer 2023$60.00
- Magic Tree House – Dinosaurs Before Dark – Summer 2023$60.00
- Sight Word Boot Camp – Entire Summer 2023$200.00
- Sight Words Boot Camp – August 7 – 10, 2023$40.00
- Sight Words Boot Camp – July 31 – August 3, 2023$40.00
- Sight Words Boot Camp – July 24 – 27, 2023$40.00
- Sight Word Boot Camp – July 17 – 20, 2023$40.00
- Essay Intensive – Tuesdays – Summer 2023$200.00
- Sight Word Boot Camp – July 10 – 13, 2023$40.00
- Social Justice Movie Club – Summer 2023$60.00
- Sight Word Boot Camp – June 26 – 30, 2023$40.00
- College Essay Boot Camp – July 2023$200.00
- Junior Historian: The Civil Rights Movement – Spring 2024$250.00
- Geeking out on Greek Mythology – Spring 2024$250.00
- Exploring the Musical Hairspray – Spring 2024$250.00
* For a full list of Eva’s courses, please click here.
