In the late 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I's tutor expressed his dismay that parents were more concerned about hiring a man to care for their horses than a tutor to teach their children. As a result, he lamented, families get tame horses and wild children.
We've come a long way in 400 years. Tutoring now plays a well-established role in schooling. Actually, tutoring is a natural process that begins in early childhood—the tutors may be parents, siblings, other relatives, or members of extended families. Tutoring continues in classrooms with cooperative learning, individualized instruction, reading and writing workshops, peer editing, and cross-age tutoring. But how much attention do we really give to making tutoring a substantial, successful experience?
The staff at Hilltop Elementary School in Beechwood, Ohio, gave the process a lot of attention. Staff members wanted an after-school program that would provide a group of 9- to 12-year-olds with encouragement and help with their reading, writing, and analysis in a variety of subjects. They specifically sought a university that was interested in enhancing its education program by giving education students some hands-on experience.
The result was a collaboration between Hilltop School and John Carroll University in Cleveland. It was a working relationship that served the needs of both institutions.
The tutors were enrolled in a course on "Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum." The tutees were 25 children who needed either remedial work or learning enrichment. Some were struggling with decoding words and comprehending the meaning of passages in their textbooks. A second group needed enrichment activities that would extend the curriculum's content beyond classroom assignments and activities. Both groups needed projects that they could develop under the tutelage of successful role models—projects that would bring them a sense of satisfaction and increase their self-esteem.
Preparing and Pairing
For the first one-third of the semester, the John Carroll students studied the theory and practice of incorporating reading and writing strategies in school subjects such as science, social studies, and math. They learned how to use these strategies with a whole class, with a small group, and with individuals. Meanwhile, the Hilltop teachers were observing their students and determining who might benefit from the tutoring program.
Once the teachers made their recommendations, Hilltop and Carroll staff met to match tutors and tutees. We based our decisions on the participants' backgrounds, interests, and subject area (a math major with a child having difficulty in math or wanting to learn more math, for example).
Thus it was that a shy 5th grader with a budding interest in science worked with a tutor with a dual major in physics and chemistry (who, coincidentally, also happened to be very shy). A 6th grader who claimed not to like school or teachers was linked with the cocaptain of the university basketball team.
The university students we selected contacted the teachers for initial interviews, then attended an orientation session at the school. The counselor and principal talked about the school and gave the tutors a guided tour. The tutors met with their assigned teachers, who told them about their young charges. They were also prepared to do some initial assessments to determine their student's abilities, aptitudes, interests, and motivations. Based on this information, each tutor prepared long-range goals and weekly plans, with input from their professor, the classroom teacher, and the child.
Villages to Volcanoes
The tutorial program ran for about eight weeks, with interruptions for vacations, inservice days, and parent conferences. The tutors and their tutees met for two one-hour sessions each week, in classrooms, conference rooms, and the library. At the end of each tutorial session, the tutors and their students reviewed that evening's homework assignment.
The work of the tutorials ranged from reading a good book for the pleasure of it, then discussing it and writing about it in a journal, to researching and developing an appropriate habitat for an iguana. Some children were able to invite the tutors to their classrooms during the day. Some tutors worked with small groups and others with whole classes.
We watched as tutors and students read, wrote, planned, researched, built, and presented projects of all kinds. The shy budding scientist and his John Carroll counterpart discussed and questioned the scientific theories behind the clouds and the smoke of rocket trajectories and conducted a series of fascinating experiments. One produced a good deal of white smoke and rumbling noises, leading me to fear an explosion was imminent.
Two 5th grade girls, matched with the college yearbook editor, made their own yearbook of science projects. Others produced newspapers, reports, and photo essays.
History projects included a detailed re-creation of an Early American village—a collaborative effort of tutors matched up with five young students. Another project, a prehistoric animal archeological dig, began with research in the school library and continued with a field trip to the school yard, where children dug up significant finds—actually simulated fossils that the tutors had planted.
As a professor of reading and writing with a literature background, I must admit to some math anxiety as I entered the "math room." I began to relax as I observed increasingly complex topics being discussed and treated in a casual, fun atmosphere, replete with math cubist puzzles and probability challenges. Perhaps my most comfortable experience, however (back in the "English room"), was watching a 6th grader—yes, a 6th grader—developing a Macbeth family tree with his English-major tutor.
When the children weren't working on projects, they were engaged in old-fashioned studying. Because the tutors were still students themselves, they had given much thought to time-management and study techniques. They were in the right position to help the children organize, plan, and work efficiently. They could tell them in all honesty, "This really works!" The tutors shared their children's test anxiety and shared their pride when good (and improved) grades were announced.
Impressed by Success
We knew the children had accepted the program when a 5th grader asked the school counselor, "Mrs. Yuratovac, could I have a big kid to help me with my work this year?" The 6th grader who had soured on school and teachers now lived for the tutorials with the basketball team cocaptain. And as his attitude improved, his academic achievement followed. The children became more motivated and interested in learning than we ever could have imagined. Some parents were so pleased with the results that they hired the tutors to continue after the semester was over.
To be sure, there were motivational setbacks when a child simply didn't want to do anything the tutor had planned. And occasionally the tutor wasn't as well prepared as he or she should have been. But these are natural classroom occurrences; the teachers in training were learning valuable lessons themselves. The children and their tutors were not the only beneficiaries: both Hilltop and John Carroll staff worked to include more individualized practice in their instruction.
What did we learn from the experience? That hard work, determination, and the linking of college students with schoolchildren produces the kind of quality experiences and results that we want in our schools. The program worked because of the dedication of everyone involved. If Hilltop's principal had not supported it, parents and teachers would not have become involved. If the counselor and the reading specialist had not been willing to spend the time and energy, we couldn't have resolved problems as efficiently as we did. If the tutors' professor had not been so willing to communicate with teachers and parents, the enterprise's purpose would not have been as clear. All of us carefully monitored the tutoring program from beginning to end.
We always closed the semester with a reception for everyone involved: children, tutors, teachers, parents, and all the school personnel who helped. It was truly a collaborative effort—one worthy of celebration.
