Saturday Mentoring
For my practicum, I tutored high school students every Saturday morning for the “I Can Do That” program on campus. The program is one that was created by the Office of Multi-ethnic Student Education (OMSE). The program took place in a quaint, tiny room in the basement of Hornbake library. I found out about the program from my involvement in another scholars program on campus called College Success Scholars (CSS). This program was created by the same organizer of the Saturday Program, Dr. Christopher Lester. The Saturday Program, was about starting the path to excellence early in high school students. Coming in every Saturday and learning new concepts in math and reading was a great first step. Dr. Lester is a very resourceful man and is extremely passionate about the programs that he creates for minorities. During the course of the program, he always found ways to encourage students and push them to be their best. While instructing on new vocabulary words or new mathematical concepts, often times we would test the students. Dr. Lester would still motivate the students even if they did not get the answer right; it was more important for the students to understand that learning was not easy and as a result, it is important to stay motivated. Dr. Lester was, and continues to be, a great program overseer. He expects nothing less than 100% from any person involved in his programs.
For the practicum, we mainly tutored the students in reading and mathematics. Each seminar typically had a set schedule: Vocabulary lesson, Math lesson, Break for lunch and then Homework help. At the beginning of the spring semester (when the program began), the students were assigned a list of advanced vocabulary words. The list contained words that are akin to those found on future standardized tests like the SAT. Each week, the students were given a set of words from the list to practice spelling and understanding. The following week, the students would come in and be asked to spell the words to finalize their understanding. Once the students had pooled enough words, a spelling bee was conducted in which the students competed to see who had a better understanding of the words. Students were encouraged to ask for the part of speech, language of origin, use in a sentence etc.; because each student learns in different ways, a broad range of hints were allowed in an attempt to equalize the chance to win. The math lesson was a time for introducing and/or reinforcing topics that would prepare students for the math sections of future standardized tests. Topics such as adding and subtracting complex fractions and use of logarithms were touched upon. First, one of the tutors would introduce the new math concept and go over some examples and give hints on how to do the problems. The students were then given about 20-30 minutes of time to do problems on their own and learn the value of hard work. The tutors were available on standby to assist in guiding their thought process. Afterwards, certain problems were put up on the board and students would have not only provide and answer but also explain how they got the answer. It was a great way of proving whether or not they understood what they were doing. To finish off, the students would then have time to get help on any homework they struggled with. No matter the subject, it was a guarantee that one of the tutors there would be able to help.
The science related to this site stresses the importance of individualized attention. It is important to develop the distinction between tutor and teacher in order to effectively teach the students. A teacher is one that just introduces new concepts to students in the same manner. A tutor reinforces those concepts, but does so in a specialized way. After enough tutoring, I learned the importance of teaching to the best of someone’s ability of retention. This aspect was the main component to me eventually being able to fully help the students.
After doing this program, I have learned the importance of understanding the material that you learn. In the past, I would often memorize ways to do problems because that worked best for me. But in teaching others, it is important to know about the subject in enough detail to be able to take someone step-by-step through problem solving. This program has motivated me to become more engaged in my learning. I usually focus on the big picture when I learn new concepts rather than the detail; I am now focusing on both aspects to become a better student and scholar as I pursue my Bachelors in Biochemistry.