As the school year goes on, peer tutoring pops up as a valuable resource for students struggling in certain classes– but not enough people know about it or take advantage of it.
During the Fall semester, both teachers and tutors have noticed a certain amount of people skipping out on their tutoring sessions. “We have an average of 10-13 tutees assigned for peer tutoring in office hours each day from Mon-Thurs with about 70-80% attending,” says Chak Woo, an Algebra 2 teacher. Meanwhile, student tutor Christopher Rappaport says that for each of his sessions, only one of his two students actually show up each time.
Even if students prefer not to go to peer tutoring, it is ultimately beneficial to attend. “Even though you don’t necessarily want to do it, you should do it because you know that’s helpful for you.”
Mr. Woo says that showing up to peer tutoring is important, not only to overall improvement, but also to show your willingness to improve in a certain subject. Just attending in light of the busy CSArts schedule is admirable. According to Woo, effects on different students vary, but he has noticed that some students do improve in certain areas over time, including both attitude towards the subject and overall grades.
Tutoring has had its own issues in certain areas, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t being set up to improve over time. Something that’s been especially noticeable for many is the noise level. “I would say it’s a little bit loud in the classroom, so it’s a little bit hard to focus, but that’s just something small,” says Rappaport.
Mr. Woo has noticed the same issues. “We are still in the early developing phases of peer tutoring, and I am looking to resolve some of these issues to better support our students in their learning for mathematics.” So, students can expect certain improvements to occur as time goes on.
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