Schools

Plainfield South Students Helping Each Other as 'Peer Tutors'

The "Southside Tutors" program embraces the idea that some students learn better when taught by other students.

Plainfield School District 202 submitted this story about a new program at Plainfield South High School in Joliet:

All students learn differently – some learn better by seeing, some by hearing, some by doing.

And some learn better from a peer.

That’s a big part of the thinking behind Plainfield South High School’s “Southside Tutors” program, through which about 100 sophomores, juniors and seniors volunteer time each day to help tutor other students in the school’s Student Assistance Center.

The program started three years ago. However, most of the first wave of volunteers has graduated, so a new crop was recruited this fall.

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About 180 students were invited – the top 15 percent of the sophomore and junior classes, said Associate Principal Dr. Christine Warren. About 100 have agreed to share their academic expertise with other students, starting this week.

The Southside Tutors are assigned to help two days a week during their study hall or part of their lunch period, depending on their schedules. Five to eight tutors will be available each half-period, Warren said.

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Students can come to the Student Assistance Center as needed by teacher referral, parent request or on their own, Warren said.

The tutoring crew received training on basic teaching skills like using effective praise, working on scenarios with students, and using good questioning to lead students to the answers.

Warren emphasized that certified adult staff will also be on hand at all times to make sure that the students get appropriate support. “The (student) tutors won’t have all the answers” for their peers, Warren said.

“Students will still have to be resourceful -- ask others, talk to their teachers, do their own research,” she said. “The student tutors are just one more resource we offer. We will wrap around each student to make sure they get the help they need,” Warren said.

Initially, PSHS offered staff-led tutoring in the school’s Media Center, said PSHS Creative Arts Division Chair Maureen Miller. However school officials wanted to add a student-led component “to let the students drop in and to advocate for themselves to get help,” she said.

That led to the creation of the Student Assistance Center last spring, a special room set aside just for student tutoring, Miller said. Adding the Southside Tutors to the mix only makes sense, she said.

“I want the tutors to see that they can make a difference – not only in their own lives, but in the lives of others. That’s empowering” for both the tutor and the student getting help, Miller said.

Indeed, “helping others” is a common theme among several of the new Southside Tutors.

Junior Leah Ochs wants to be a math teacher, “so this is good experience for me,” she said. “I really wanted to get involved in a way that I can help someone. I like to see people be able to learn,” Ochs said.

As well, the tutors get to practice their own learning, by teaching, added sophomore Jordyn Blomquist, who particularly likes Social Studies. “It’s kind of like getting extra practice, or a refresher,” she said.

Junior Ellen Zajda wants to work in the medical field. The Southside Tutors are a way for her to experience working with people. “I felt like I’d be good at this. My teachers are always asking me to help others,” she said, explaining why she volunteered.

Yet there is a bigger objective, Warren said, adding that school administrators want to eventually take the Southside Tutors program to the elementary and middle schools that feed into PSHS.

“Our goal is to grow academic leaders in the high school and to provide academic resources that students might not be able to get otherwise,” she said.


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