February 7, 2016

Horizon offers students extra tutoring before classes start

By Shannon Gilchrist, Hillard Northwest News, originally published 

Horizon fourth-grade teacher Stephanie Force helps Justin Flemming with his math during the school's Power Hour on Jan. 5. The before-school individualized reading and math instruction runs Mondays through Thursdays. Photo by Tom Dodge/The Columbus Dispatch

Horizon fourth-grade teacher Stephanie Force helps Justin Flemming with his math during the school’s Power Hour on Jan. 5. The before-school individualized reading and math instruction runs Mondays through Thursdays. Photo by Tom Dodge/The Columbus Dispatch

Hilliard teacher Tami Remington wrote on a strip of paper: “I like to play with my friends.”

As Remington cut apart the words, Horizon Elementary first-graders Megan Taylor and Kamree Boulware read them aloud. Their teacher then jumbled the scraps on the desk. The two girls worked together to reassemble the sentence, giggling as they went.

This all happened Tuesday, Jan. 5, before the sun rose, before the school-zone lights began flashing out on Renner Road, before their classmates showed up for the day.

Hilliard’s Horizon Elementary School calls it the Power Hour: before-school individualized reading and math instruction Monday through Thursday for students who can use the extra help. Many are in small groups, while a few get one-on-one attention. Of the students invited to participate, about 95 percent accepted, said Holly Meister, coordinator of the Power Hour.

School buses pick up about 50 students and bring them to Horizon at 7:30 a.m., more than an hour before school starts. The children learn for an hour from their classroom teachers, and then the school feeds them breakfast. The program, including transportation, is funded through a U.S. Department of Education 21st Century Learning grant. This is the second year of the $200,000, three-year grant. It helps schools to expand academics beyond regular school hours for students and their families, and to give the youngsters enrichment opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have.

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Filed under: Academic Learning Centers,K-8

January 10, 2016

Octogenarian Tutor Brings Warm Encouragement And Grammar Basics To English Lab

by Lorena Umana, The Reporter, originally published January 15, 2016

Tutor Time: Jerry Mitchell, 86, tutors students struggling to learn English at the Kendall Campus. He has served as a tutor at the campus for seven years. Photo by Eli Abasi

Tutor Time: Jerry Mitchell, 86, tutors students struggling to learn English at the Kendall Campus. He has served as a tutor at the campus for seven years. Photo by Eli Abasi

At a time when most people his age are retired, Jerry Mitchell, an 86-year-old English for Academic Purposes Laboratory (EAP) tutor at Kendall Campus, chooses to help students who are struggling to learn English.

“I love tutoring because I get to meet students from all over the world,” Mitchell said. “They keep me thinking young.”

The lab provides English as a Second Language (ESL) students with computers and printers to assist with what they are learning in class. Students may also ask for tutors to assist them with ESL related work and to practice English.  Students come from around the globe including Cuba, Iran, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

Besides covering the foundations of grammar and vocabulary, Mitchell uses the song Cold Water by Burl Ives to teach his ESL students pronunciation and life philosophy. The song is about a cowboy in the desert with his horse. He sees all kinds of mirages created by the devil. But the horse encourages the cowboy to keep moving.

To read more click here.

Filed under: Academic Learning Centers,College

November 8, 2015

Tutoring changes the brain in kids with math learning disabilities

By Erin Digitale, Scope/Stanford Medicine, originally published on 10/1/15

One-on-one-tutoring-199x300A new Stanford study, publishing today in Nature Communications, sheds light on how to help children with math learning disabilities. One-on-one cognitive tutoring improves math performance in these children and also normalizes brain activity in several regions important for numerical problem solving, the research found.

The findings are important because math learning disabilities often fall off educators’ and parents’ radar. (Everyone has heard of dyslexia, but its numerical equivalent, dyscalculia? Not so much.) Yet math learning disabilities can hamper a child’s ability to gain basic life skills such as managing time and money, and can prevent children from growing up to pursue math- and science-related careers.

The new study is similar to another recent experiment that demonstrated alleviation of math anxiety with tutoring. Both studies are the work of the Stanford MathBrain Project, directed by Vinod Menon, PhD. Teresa Iuculano, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar working with Menon, is the new study’s lead author.

To read more, click here.

Filed under: K-8,Research

October 8, 2015

Academic coaching sessions lead to increase in grades

By Maggie Heath-Bourne, Chief Reporter, the News Record, originally published 9/19/15.

Students who meet with University of Cincinnati’s Learning Assistance Center’s (LAC) academic coaches seven times throughout a semester typically see their grades improve by two-thirds of a letter grade.

Academic coaches, who are student workers selected based on faculty recommendations, interviews and applications, provide advice on time management, motivate good study habits and more. “A good analogy is that coaches are like personal trainers for academics,” said Lauren Clark, LAC’s program director. “They motivate you, teach you useful strategies, introduce you to other resources, develop their feedback and approach based on each student’s unique needs.”

Academic coaches must have a 3.5 GPA. LAC’s average GPA during the 2014-15 academic year was 3.8, Clark said.

To read more, click here.

Filed under: Coaching

September 26, 2015

School district offers tutoring program for parents

By Marisa Breese, News Associate Producer, Click2Houston, originally published 9/24/15

tutors-for-parentsMany parents would like to help their children with math homework, but sometimes the material is difficult, even for some adults. A school district in Wisconsin is hoping to teach parents how to help their kids tackle those challenging problems.

The Antigo School District is offering a new program called MAPPS, which stands for Math and Parent Partners. MAPPS is meant to help parents understand what their children are learning in the classroom. School officials hope that the program will increase parents’ confidence when it comes to discussing mathematics.

To read more, click here.

Filed under: Community

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