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Student tutors refresh, renew and reflect on summer of learning

Dr. Tony Thacker discusses the opportunities student tutors have to positively impact the lives of their peers.

November 2008

After preparing 42 students to become more effective after-school tutors through a pair of summer camps, the Truman Pierce Institute will take the opportunity to learn a few things from some of them.

Fifteen students who visited Auburn University to participate in educational camps will return to campus on Friday, Nov. 14 for a Leadership Skill Development event entitled "Refresh, Renew and Reflect.''

In addition to gaining ideas in sessions on tutoring, skill development, mentoring, leadership and continuous program improvement, the students will have the opportunity to share their best tutorial practices.

"The intent of it is to really have a chance to all come back together, renew friendships, renew their skills, but then to reflect on what worked, what didn't and help us start planning for next year's summer camps,'' said Dr. Cynthia Reed, director of the Truman Pierce Institute and a full professor in Auburn University's College of Education. "This will give everyone time to reflect on the difference it makes in their lives, as well as the difference it makes in the lives of the young people they're tutoring. This is the first time we've pulled them all back together.''

Their input will help shape the offerings at next summer's training camps hosted by the Truman Pierce Institute. The camps are open to rising high school students who are interested in improving their skills in order to become more effective after-school tutors in their 21^st Century Community Learning Center and after-school programs. While the camps enable students to build their bases of knowledge in natural science, math, art and writing, the experience is transformative in other ways.

"Part of the intent of the summer camps is to encourage more young people to go into teaching,'' Reed said. "It's truly a life-changing event for many of the people that come. Many of them have never spent time on a college campus before. It's an experience beyond what they could have imagined. Then, to meet people from all around the state, it's a life-altering experience for them. They learn things about themselves that they never realized. Because we're teaching them in a different area, we're teaching them content area knowledge as well as skills to be a tutor. The best way to learn things sometimes is to teach someone else.''

The Leadership Skill Development session will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Ballroom B of The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. Dr. Tony Thacker, an education administrator for the Alabama State Department of Education and project administrator for the Governor's Commission on Quality Teaching , will be a guest speaker. Other speakers will include Tuboise Floyd on leadership skill development, Audrey Phillips on tutoring skill development, Amy Knight on mentoring, and Reed and Chris Groccia on continuous program improvement.

Reed looks forward to hearing what ideas the most recent class of student tutors have about the summer camps and effective tutorial practices.

"They never cease to amaze me with the ideas they generate,'' she said.

Last Updated: Jun 17, 2011