Unique tutoring program pairs students at Erie elementary school
They're spread out across the gym floor in groups of two, huddled over work sheets and playing cards.
They're sprinkled in hallways and corners, sitting at tables, surrounded by flashcards and game pieces.
Each duo includes a tutor and a struggling student -- but this tutoring program at Erie's Jefferson Elementary School looks a bit different from others.
The tutors are students themselves: third-graders, working with kindergartners, first- and second-graders.
The tutors, all of whom have been trained in educational activities and ways to manage behavior, among other skills, keep track of students' progress.
Georgann Shea, a schoolwide support teacher at Jefferson, designed the Cross-Age Tutoring Program. It's as much about forging relationships as it is about academics, she said.
Relationships don't always naturally materialize in urban schools, Shea said.
"When kids have a relationship, whether its with a teacher or peers, they feel accepted and they have a place and they belong," Shea said.
When that happens, "We know achievement will be higher."
Teachers report that the program has improved students' academics and classroom behavior, Shea said. The program helps the younger students because it's fun, engaging them in learning with games and activities. And it empowers the third-graders, giving them responsibility while reinforcing what they've already learned, she said.
"It's been the reason they (the tutors) get to school on time," Shea said. "It's been the reason they stay organized. They know if their academics suffer they won't be able to tutor."
When a teacher recommended Nathan Fromknecht participate in the program as a tutor, his mother was pleasantly surprised. Nathan has been diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.
"He has a hard time with relationships with his peers of his own age but he does get along easier with younger children," Marian Fromknecht said. "So this was good for him to be able to interact, to learn to build a relationship."
Nathan -- a 9-year-old math wiz -- works with a another boy, a kindergartner. The program has given him a sense of pride and helped boost his self-esteem, Marian Fromknecht said.
"Math comes easy to him so it's never made him feel special," she said. "Being able to help someone else with it, that's made him feel good about himself."
During a recent tutoring period, third-grader Callia Ferraris, 8, worked with 6-year-old Montae Jones-Gordon. Callia flashed alphabet cards and asked Montae to name the letter and the sound it makes.
"Sometimes kids communicate a little better with each other," Callia said.
In the gym, third-grader Alissa Russo and second-grader Madison Fisher were playing a math game with dice. Each would roll the dice, double the number, and color in a square with that number on a paper grid. The first to color three squares in a row won.
"It's just like a game, except you're learning math," said Madison, 8.
The girls like working with one another, and are now friends.
"I get to know someone I never would have known," 9-year-old Alissa said.
ERICA ERWIN can be reached at 870-1846 or by e-mail. Follow her at twitter.com/ETNerwin.