December 2024: From staff member Jamie Rees
Now entering its third school year, the Garfield High School peer tutoring program is growing in both the depth and breadth of its impact. When conversations among teachers and principals turn to supporting new teachers or students in need, they discuss allocating peer tutors to high-need classes as one of the first and most robust solutions. Our tutors help in math classes from Algebra 1 to AP Calculus, French, Spanish, Journalism, English, World History, Ethnic Studies, US History, Physics, P.E., Robotics, Biology, and English Language Learning classes.
A couple of moments really stand out. In early October, a new teacher was forced to take over our Robotics class mid-year. Two of our tutors spent a week building and programing an example robot for the teacher and then helped the class construct a fleet of robots that are now zipping across the floors.
Second, one of our students who used to be a recipient of tutoring is now one of our strongest tutors! He arrived several years ago from the Democratic Republic of Congo speaking only Portuguese and Lingala. Through playing football, making friends, and working hard in his classes, his English is now outstanding, and he has been a tutor and translator for many of the more recently arrived Congolese students as they adjust to the country and to Garfield.
We are grateful for the support of Garfield Golden Grads in making this program possible, and grateful that this program has not only produced academic support but also helped to weave the cultural fabric of the school tighter.
October 2024: A new chapter
Garfield’s Peer Tutoring Program is entering its third school year. We begin the 2024-25 school year with more than 20 tutors. This year represents our most diverse group of tutors to date, with a group that is reflective of the Garfield student body and community. We have tutors who are working specifically with students who have recently immigrated and are working to learn and develop their English skills, as well as students with special needs (from visual impairments to students with Down syndrome) to help them participate in and access general education classes. We are excited for these tutors to be challenged and to be exposed to the complexity and beauty of Garfield High School.
March 2024: From Jamie Rees
I think the fall has been excellent. There have been a lot more feedback/requests from other teachers who want to see more tutors or more of our current tutors in their classes. There has been a lot of expressed interest from students—word of the program is trickling through the school. More seniors have applied to become tutors next semester and a number of juniors have reached out expressing a desire to be part of the program next year.
From my end, I am very encouraged by the diversity of our tutors. Some of them are 4.0 students, some are not. All of them bring different and interesting life experience and perspectives to their work and are able to reach different students. I really appreciate that we now have three bilingual tutors as well as several others who have completed AP Spanish and want to use their language skills to reach kids and help out.
I am also encouraged—because this is the part, I think, that is most important to me—by the degree of difficulty this program has posed to our tutors. They are some of our best students, some of them haven’t had a meaningful challenge in school in some time and they have been pushed by their experiences, forced to ask questions of the school and society they live in, and been very emotionally invested in the success and failures of their work.
I am hopeful, over time, to construct a more concrete system of feedback/data collection. For now, it is mostly anecdotal, but I am working on some surveys of tutors and staff to help us grow and improve.
Note from President Henry Brashen: This tutoring project has far exceeded our expectations, but there is more work to be done. GGG can continue to support this wonderful program as it grows and develops. I encourage you to donate to this very worthy cause. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.