13. Peer-tutoring = Belonging

13. Peer-Tutoring = Belonging

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

*Comprehensive guidance and support services meet the needs of young adolescents. Guidance Services

Our school counselors serve over six hundred students. They meet with students regularly, conduct 504 meetings, and monitor many levels of concern. They also meet with teachers to explore ways to serve our student population. I believe school counselors carry the pulse of middle schools and are tremendously important to the well-being of everyone.

One of our school counselors, in an effort to promote leadership, invited teachers to recommend leaders who could potentially serve as tutors to other students. We recommended students and our counselor trained them and set up Tuesday afternoons to allow students to work with classmates. I asked her to reflect on the experience, describe her role, and give advice for those who would like to conduct this type of service. The following is her response.

This is "it" In theory..... 

Part of my job as a Middle School Counselor is to have conversations with students who have poor attendance. I can’t help but notice that many of our students confess that they feel overwhelmed by the process of catching up with their classmates once they have missed school. This sense of hopelessness creates a cycle: Students with attendance problems, get behind, feel overwhelmed, and continue to miss school. Along with these one-on-one self- disclosures, I also learn, through our school-wide student survey, that twenty-one percent of our students want to ‘feel better about themselves,’ and over 100 students ‘want to learn ways to do better in school.’

In response to this information, I created a peer-tutoring program at our Middle School that focuses on the three dimensions of self-esteem: competence, control, and worth. This program addresses these dimensions for both the students tutoring and those being tutored. Not only can students get help with core classes, they can also get personalized assistance with getting organized. Who among us doesn't need that?

Students are learning and demonstrating their ability to meet demands for achievement (competence); they are realizing that they are responsible for how things turn out academically (control); and, they are gaining a sense of their own social value, of his or her significance to others (worth). I believe this program can increase self-esteem and academic success; and as a bonus, potentially increase students' attendance, thereby positively impacting our future graduation rates. So I came in with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Teachers shared the names of potential tutors, and I trained them…

We had our last tutoring session this past Tuesday.

This is what is working. Students really, really liked being tutors. Those who wanted to be tutored really liked being tutored! They liked the laid back atmosphere, which only happens by controlling the number of students who participate. Participants liked having information explained by a fellow student and not by an adult. Tutors liked the sense of being part of the solution. They liked that their academic and organizational efforts were recognized, and during tutoring, they appeared to truly enjoy explaining things to others.

This is what is not working: Teachers would send too many students, would forget to send students, or would send students who did not want to be tutored. These experiences overwhelmed our tutors. Tutors would forget to come to tutoring. There was not enough time, not enough manpower, and not enough space. Tutoring lasted thirty minutes at the end of the day, one day a week, for both 7th and 8th graders. I was the only adult present in a large classroom, but not large enough for more than thirty students to fit comfortably. The limitations of my own schedule prove to be another challenge. As a Counselor, I never know who is going to walk through my door and what issue(s) that person brings with him or her. Most of the time, it is not easy for me to interrupt students with serious concerns to tell them I need to go supervise and facilitate peer tutoring. Not to mention, I run multiple programs and coordinate several initiatives at our school. Finding the time, within my own tight schedule, has sent my blood pressure soaring.

But I will tell you, this program, even with the problems, is making, and has the potential to make a big difference in our school. 

This is my advice:

1.      One person can't do it all. There needs to be a team of people in place to have a successful peer tutoring program - not just me saying  "I need you to do this please, teachers and students" but true buy-in and shared coordination and shared responsibility. My goal next year is to set up a liaison from each team to meet and plan the experience.

2.      I tried to address challenges by having a meeting with teachers during their planning (I even sprung for donuts at each grade level meeting), I created peer tutoring passes, and posted the tutoring schedules outside teachers' doors each week. These efforts proved to be futile.

And I will follow, having been one of those teachers who forgot to remind students, and who tried to send two students who needed help, but didn’t embrace the opportunity. I will say that my students who were tutors loved the opportunity to lead. Those who are tutors on our team are carrying their leadership into the classroom. Having the opportunity to feel like they belong to a group gives students power and improves their self-concept in class.

3.     Finding buy-in, for any program is huge. This program has great potential. Don’t ever give up on a great program. She is right; there has to be more than one person who will embrace the program with you, in order to achieve success.

4.     There are some middle schools that have a designated remediation/enrichment period associated with each grade-level. A peer-tutoring program would enhance remediation and enrichment. The more students lead, the stronger the community (I made that up; but I do believe it.)

5.     I recommend we buy the tutors t-shirts. There is something about a t-shirt that allows students to be inclusive. (:

6.     Note: This type of program could be part of your professional development plan. Working with colleagues and counselors to “contribute to the academic success of students” is an area that could serve to enrich your experiences with colleagues and with students.

NC Teaching Standards

Teachers Demonstrate Leadership Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students Teachers Know the Content They Teach Teachers Facilitate Learning for Their Students Teachers Reflect on Their Practice Teachers Contribute to the Academic Success of Students

Live and learn.