Tutor Ms Olivia C. olivia's Personal Information Name: Ms Olivia C. Gender: Female Age: 19-21 Location: Plympton, Massachusetts

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olivia's Professional Information

Relavent Experience:

Tutor, Homework House after school program in Holyoke, MA. Fall 2008- Spring 2010. I tutored children who were at risk of failure in grades K-8.

Tutor, Somali/Burundi refugee program at the White Street School, Springfield MA. I tutored Somali and Burundi refugee children in English.

Teacher's Assistant, Puddle Jumpers Learning Center in Plympton, MA. Summer 2009- current. Helped teachers out with whatever they needed from reading storied to teaching spelling.

            Through my work at the afterschool program Homework House, at the White Street School, and at the childcare center and preschool Puddle Jumpers Learning Center, I have developed a love and enthusiasm for the education of children. My experiences have solidified my views on the importance of education and my commitment to teaching.

            I started tutoring at Homework House, an afterschool program for children at risk of failure in Holyoke, MA during the fall semester of my first year at Smith College and since then, I have been tutoring there. The program’s commitment to serving underprivileged youth with a two-to-one student to tutor ratio has made it apparent that a close mentoring relationship can change the lives of children. My experience at Homework House has taught me that my role as a tutor is not only to teach, but to serve as a mentor and a role model. I started working with a particular student spring semester of my first year. When I first started working with her, she was prone to entire sessions of silence and refusal to do her work. Despite this, I returned week after week. As I got to know her, I learned that she had never had anyone in her life who she could depend on or look up to, not even her mother or father. Now, she has gotten to the point where she will do all of her homework on her own- not for me, but for herself. She has told me that she wants to attend Smith so that she can be like me and the dozens of other Smithies who tutor regularly. This past January Term, I coordinated the middle school students at Homework House. There were very few tutors because of the break, so I tutored upwards of 12 students at a time. This helped me realize that I can handle teaching an entire classroom and that I genuinely enjoy doing so.

            In addition, I worked with disadvantaged children at the White Street School in Northampton, MA, where I tutored Somali and Burundi refugee kindergarteners in English. The task was daunting because none of them knew any English nor did they speak English at home.  This experience taught me the importance of using multiple teaching techniques, especially with younger children. For example, if I were trying to teach the word “ball” I would say the word, give them a ball to touch, draw and color a ball and repeat the word many times. Although the progress was slow, I knew that the attention I was giving them was significant in terms of their learning and their self-esteem.

            Right now, I am working my second summer at The Puddle Jumper’s Learning Center, a daycare and pre-school in Plympton, MA. I have worked with all age groups, from infants to second graders who come to Puddle Jumpers after school. I am in charge of assistant teaching an entire classroom of children, not just mentoring a few children. This job has helped me learn effective classroom organization techniques and lesson planning. It has also helped me in identifying children with learning and behavior problems, as well as how to help children without constantly singling them out. I truly enjoy seeing the progress children make from the beginning to the end of the summer, whether it is learning to speak or learning to spell.

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