Tutoring in a middle school

I am a student in college right now and for field experience I am tutoring at a local middle school. I want to know what your thoughts are on the AVID program. If you haven't used the AVID program maybe you have used something similar. The AVID program takes students who are willing to participate and actually sign an agreement between themselves, their parents and teachers. During one block of time during the school day these students come to a room and group off in about seven students per group and proceed to work on a problem that they have had a hard time understanding. The purpose of this group is to have the other students and the "tutor" only ask questions that will help the student with the problem figure it out by themselves. My specific questions are:

1) What are you doing/have done to keep students interested and on track?

2) What improvements have you seen?

3) Any additional problems brought on by this grouping?

4) How do you handle diversity within the group (mainly the educational gap but all types of diversity would be helpful)?

Here is the website for the AVID program

AVID

Tags: AVID, Middle, School, diversity, group, problems, tutor, tutoring

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Permalink Reply by Dave Eveland on January 30, 2014 at 8:56am

This sounds a lot like collaborative learning - and gives the chance for students to interact with other students while the teacher facilitates and provides guidance and direction. I'd personally like this approach to learning if I was a student, and I can see the merits at a middle school level - as they're in a place where learning to interact and communicate clearly is a life-skill worth honing.

I've taught middle school, and while I've not used the AVID approach you describe here, I'm aware of some of the complexities of working with middle-school students - which are relevant to your question. I'd also compare these against your locale. Middle school students are at a place where they're trying to figure themselves out - let alone a teacher figure them out - in order to help them learn. This could provide for a messy learning experience, but I think it could still be beneficial for some students, esp. if they're electing to be involved and 'contracting' to do so.

I want to say the diversity across a middle-school demographic could be beneficial - having older students help younger ones can help older students shore up their confidence in an area that they're good at, while helping younger students see that they have a need for (and possibly help) older students with issues they face. Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Brittany Wood on January 30, 2014 at 12:40pm

To keep students interested and on track you should give them problems that involve them moving. Studies show students who are up and moving learn and understand better then when they are just sitting and listening. Since I have been helping in the school systems I know that movement is a very big help on students. Especially students who learn like I do when they need to see and do something to understand it.

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Permalink Reply by Morgan Thie on January 31, 2014 at 10:51am

Keeping students on track is not an easy thing to do. If they have the question in front of it just keep referring back to it. Also try and ask it in a different way that they might better understand it. If you can keep them focused the improvements will increase. When I have tutored before some of the improvements I have seen is that they are better at understanding the question or problem quicker then before. Also some students learn better if they can try and explain to other students what they are doing in order to find the answer. Groups can sometimes be difficult, it also is important to not make the group to big because then it can just be like a classroom setting. I would make sure in each group there is different students who learn differently. That the students in one group don't all learn the same way. It is much easier with two or three students and maybe even four, but I feel like after that it gets more difficult.