Success is Real

My AVID class is designed to teach students who test in the middle, who need a push, to get into and matriculate through the university system. This is the last year for my students, I have had them all four years through what is now their senior year.

Part of the curriculum of this class is conducting tutorials; we even have professional tutors who come in to help. Some if my students, though, have practiced the art of tutorials since they were in sixth grade. Yes, you heard that correctly SIX years of tutorials. They have begged and pleaded for something new, and I have to admit that I was reluctant to even broach this topic with my students. 

But the more I read and the more I talk to students who are currently in college, the more I realize we need to make a change. Today I had my students read a study that a researcher at Berkeley conducted to try to figure out why students of color have little success in upper division math classes. He wanted to figure out what would help African American students be more successful, so he began to study the concept of study groups and how these eventually helped his students become successful.

After reading this study, we conducted a Socratic Seminar about the ideas presented and then turned to what my students feel they might need in senior study groups as they begin their transition towards college. 

Here's the punch line: their decisions around what they most need to creat a successful study group are EXACTLY the same as their tutorial forms they have been given since early middle school.

To say I have fought them in the validity of tutorials is a euphemism. After four years of explaining, cajoling, and testifying the benefits of tutorials, my students have FINALLY realized the validity of their time well spent.

It was a happy day, indeed.