"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." --Dr. Seuss
My peer tutors demonstrate caring "a whole awful lot," assisting younger students who struggle academically. This project will allow me to expand this program with a focus on math skills.
I am a school counselor at a public, K-5 school in Tennessee.
The students at my school are a diverse group culturally, ethnically, and economically. I work primarily with students in grades 3 through 5, providing classroom guidance and individual and small-group counseling services. Much of my work involves teaching students life skills and encouraging character development. Helping others and demonstrating personal responsibility are two skills that I highlight through my peer tutor program.
My peer tutors are 4th and 5th grade students who help younger students who are struggling academically. In its current design, peer tutors meet with their study buddies once a week. On tutoring day, you can see the tutors and their buddies lining the halls of my school, huddling together to work on flash cards or a math game, listening to a reading story, practicing spelling words, or studying for a test.
My Project
As part of my peer tutor program, I train my tutors how to encourage and build meaningful relationships with the students they serve. The pencils, stickers, and bookmarks requested in this project are used to build and reinforce the developing relationships between peer tutors and their study buddies.
The other materials requested in this project would allow me to expand my peer tutor program beyond its current form. Right now, with tutoring occurring during the school day, the buddies' teachers provide the materials on which the pair should work. However, with the games, flash cards, and math centers requested in this project, I could have math materials available in a central location for peer tutors to use before school. Taken as a whole, these materials cover a wide range of skills and grade levels. I have even requested blank index cards so the tutors and their buddies can make a set of flash cards for home practice.
The at-risk students served by my peer tutors do better because they are befriended by someone who cares "a whole awful lot" about them.
The math games and activities provided through this project will allow a before-school expansion of this program, and the pencils, stickers, and bookmarks will serve to remind the study buddies of their successes. In the process, my peer tutors learn important lessons about responsibility and reaching out to those in need.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Dr. Taylor and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
