Evansville-based Joshua Academy recently received grant funding to enable a tutoring program inside their charter school. The grant required Joshua Academy to partner with an educational establishment to launch a tutoring program and the University of Southern Indiana was selected.
Joshua Academy worked to secure the grant and USI’s Dr. Mark Creager, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, and Dr. Doris Mohr, Associate Professor of Mathematics, recruited students who they saw fit to tutor at the school. The students will be elementary education majors with math minors who are currently in, or surpassed their second semester in the degree pathway. Creager and Mohr saw this as a great opportunity for their students in Teacher Education, as future educators, to get experience in the classroom before they begin student teaching.
“The tutoring positions at Joshua Academy are great experiences and even better work environments for college students. USI students will get the opportunity to make connections with the current teachers and leadership that could lead to potential job opportunities after their graduation.” says Creager. These student positions are filled on a semester basis.
Each student who tutors will receive professionally-developed criteria with lessons that guide the tutoring sessions. The premade assessments come with suggestions on activities the USI students can do with the elementary school children. By merging the assessments with what the college students are learning in their on-campus courses, they are able to get firsthand experience implementing what they are learning.
Besides assisting the students with math, the lessons utilize Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum. This curriculum is a methodology that helps students of all ages better comprehend their emotions, to feel those emotions fully and demonstrate empathy for others. USI students who tutor in this program will be able to advance their knowledge on the SEL curriculum to best prepare for graduation from the Teacher Education Program.
Students from USI who tutor at Joshua Academy gain early access to teaching tools such as i-Ready, an assessment regularly used by Indiana elementary school teachers that provides personalized instruction and supports the needs of all learners. Participating tutors will gain knowledge of the program well before they are in their own classroom.
Not only does this program provide excellent charter school experience to the USI students, but it gives them a chance to be role models for the young students at Joshua Academy. These elementary school students are introduced and interested in college at an early age when they get to work with their USI tutor.
“This is my first year tutoring at Joshua Academy,” says Aubrey Ruxer, a USI junior. “I am majoring in Elementary Education and Special Education so this opportunity has provided me with a great learning experience. The skills and techniques that I have learned while tutoring will be very beneficial in my future career as a teacher. My favorite part of this experience has been building relationships with the students. I am tutoring kindergarten and so it is fun to get to know each student while working with them.”
Creager and Mohr want the success of the program to encourage the grant to be continued so USI students can keep working with the children at Joshua Academy. Currently, the grant is reinstated for one year, but both USI and Joshua Academy see the long term potential and positive impact on their students participating in the program.