Candice

** __PEER TUTORING__ ** __**A Little Bit About ME**__  17 years have gone by in my life and many experiences and accomplishments have made me the person I am today. I’ve learned not to take things for granted in life because you only have one and you cant let things pass you by. That is one reason I want to make my last year of high school the best that it can be because your only a high school graduate once. I’m definitely a people person, and I love every minute that I get to spend with my friends and family. Even though I’m not entirely sure how my friends handle my crazy, loud, energetic personality on a regular basis. If I’m not dancing im probably singing and if I’m not singing I’m either bouncing off the walls with energy or trying to find ways to entertain myself. Maybe I have some form of A.D.D but who knows, I am who I am and nobody can change that. Some of my passions include horses, figure skating and wrestling which have been a large component of my life and have all influenced me in many ways. I’ve ridden horses since the age of 3 and was fortunate to own my own horse at age 9. His name is Goin and he wasn’t only my horse, but my best friend as well. We had an intangible relationship and even though I had to sell him recently I will never forget all the memories we shared and the joy he brought me. Also at a young age I started figure skating and was competitively involved with the sport for 8 years. Wrestling, being completely opposite from figure skating, was something that I fell in love with in middle school. Always being somewhat of an aggressive child wrestling is the perfect sport for me. The perceptions I have, friends I have made, and things I have learned have all shaped me as whole and made me who I am today and I wouldn’t change for anything. I look forward to the future and all the things it has in store for me, eager to learn new things and live life to the fullest! Life is full of opportunities and I want to reach out and snatch every one I can get a grasp of. Live life to the fullest, be yourself, and have fun..

Rock On

= =     __ **JUMPSTART 9** __

__**week 1**__:
I have never tutored anyone before so I was a little bit nervous when I walked into the class the first day. However, the teacher is super nice and im very comfortable working with her. The kids all seem fairly well behaved considering they are in grade 9 except for maybe a couple of trouble makers. For the majority of the semester I believe I will be working with a boy who is dyslectic. He has troubles with reading and writing so I have been helping him get through any written work that needs to be done. This week they finished the section of the napoleon era and our currently finishing up movie trailers that they needed to create on a specific topic during the French revolution. I helped the students with their movie proposals and helped billy, (the boy with dyslexia) create and finish his movie proposal. On Tuesday I also helped a grade 10 class during my p.e block with a wrestling unit which was something that was kind of fun. I enjoyed helping the students and look forward to getting to know them a little better as the semester goes on.

__**week 2:**__
During the first few days of classes the idea of tutoring someone was a new concept that I had never participated in before. I wasn’t 100% confident in myself and some of the things I noticed is that occasionally students will ask questions that I do not know the answer to. I would like to be able to follow closely with what area of the curriculum is being studied to then be confident in answering any questions that come forth. I would also like to eventually get to know more about the individual personalities of the students I primarily work with because I think that is an important aspect when tutoring and being a role model for an individual. Hopefully I can successfully achieve what I need to in order to become a better tutor because I know that a few kids really need my help. I want to be able to say that I was the one who helped them accomplish what they needed to with their school work as well as improvement as a student overall.

**__week 3:__**
The jumpstart 9 class that I currently peer tutor for is a very easy going and comfortable environment. I’m grateful to work with such a great teacher as well as reasonably well behaved students. Since I generally work with one student in particular it can be difficult for me to simultaneously assist each individual within the portion of students who need the most help. However, those students don’t genuinely need an extended period of time that involves one on one help so I try my best to attend to any quick questions. There is also another student from SFU who helps on Tuesdays and Thursdays so if I can’t help then she is always there as well along with the teacher. Over the time I have been helping one student in particular I have noticed some slight improvements with his spelling as well as writing skills, but nothing entirely significant or elaborate. I hope I can do my best in the future to help make more and more improvements that will benefit him, that will result in a sense of achievement not only for him but for myself as well.

__**week 4:**__ What makes peer tutoring meaningful is the fact that I each day I have the ability to have an impact on a student in different ways. I love the feeling of accomplishment when I am able to successfully help or assist someone in completing a task or generating ideas in the hopes of helping them learn. It is definitely a very different experiences being the one that is no longer sitting in the desk listening to the teacher but actually being treated and respected as a teacher. It is an entirely different perspective and I really enjoy having that new perception of being superior towards other young adults. I think it’s definitely a nice break during block one to not have to be sitting and listening to a teacher and instead having the ability to be interactive and assisting to students that need my help.

__**Week 5:**__
With each passing day I spend in peer tutoring brings an increasing level of confidence within me. I can not specify with one experience individually where I felt confident during this week because I believe that everything I do each day brings progression to my confidence. Unlike when I first was introduced to the class I now have every ones names down pack and have become much closer with the majority of the students in the class. With that brings me the ability to portray confidence because I am not timid to jump in and help students, whereas previously I was more timid to work with students due to the fact that I was unfamiliar with them as individuals. The confidence I have obtained has allowed me to be more helpful as well as directive and dominant when in the class. With confidence I believe you can accomplish anything and is an attribute everyone should strive for because it will get you a lot further in the real world then you would without it. With confidence in the classroom I believe it brings me a sense of dominance like a teacher has with being responsible for all the students. I can be bossy and somewhat intimidating and I think that is of importance in a classroom atmosphere when you are a teacher or peer tutor. Especially in relation to a class full of grade 9 students who have the tendency to be immature and if you don’t show dominance they will walk all over you.

__**Week 6:**__

Peer Tutoring is a class I have surprisingly been enjoying over the last few months of being enrolled in the course. I find that it is a very relaxed and rewarding class to be in and I am happy that I chose to go ahead and try I out. During the last two weeks the students have been learning about the wide range of aboriginal groups across Canada in early history. We have gone over culture, housing, food, clothing and much more of different aboriginal peoples all over Canada and what similarities and differences they have in different regions. We also just recently went over some myths created by aboriginals which followed by some questions. The students have been asked to create their own totem poles with 5 meaningful symbols which describe them as an individual. And just finishing up last week and this week they have created their own myths categorized as either a creation, explanation, or lesson myth which were specifically planned, peer edited and then made into a final draft. And just in the last couple days we had guest speakers come into the classroom to talk to the students about aboriginal residential schools that lasted over 100 years. It was very interesting and also quite surprising and sad. We even had a residential school survivor come in to tell us all about his life story which was very emotional and made us all realize how lucky we are today. __** Week 7: **__ In the last two weeks I have not experienced any particular meaningful conversations with my teacher or student. However, it is always a pleasure to be present in the class as it is always a positive environment. One experience in the last 2 weeks where I had a joyful experience was when we had a guest speaker come in to show us aboriginal art. Afterwards we were able to engage in making our own artistic bracelets made ow cow hide and string. It was a fun activity and the students seemed to have a good time doing it as well.

__ Week 8: __
My personal values and goals revolving around school specifically are based around my personal belief that I should do everything I can to the best of my ability. I try to do the best that I can with my schoolwork and be the best person that I can be. I can directly reflect this in my peer tutoring class in terms of trying to be the best possible tutor that I can be for the students that need me the most. I also try to put myself forward as a role model for the students especially since they are so young and have just been exposed to high school this year. I hope that my values toward school will help the students that tend to slack off take a second thought about the choices that they make. specifically because I have seen the effects of students who have continuously repeated their bad habits from grade 9 up to grade 12 and now some of them may not be graduating. That is something I hope can send a message to the students in order for them to set personal goals for themselves to be successful in their high school career. I have become fairly close with the students in my peer tutoring class and I care about their successes. I hope that my personal experiences and beliefs will be of a valuable influence on them as they are soon finishing grade 9 and shortly entering grade 10. I have been influenced by my peers values and goals or beliefs and maybe I will be that someone that influences one of the students in my class.

__ Week 10 __
The last two weeks of class have mostly been composed of text book work and presentations, so there hasn’t been much active teaching experiences for me to engage in. I would say that one star would consist of my actions of helping my teacher specifically with marking and photocopying because without me she wouldn’t have been able to complete all of it as quickly or efficiently. My second star would consist of one of the few tutoring experiences that I experienced over the last 2 weeks where I was to help a student with a test. Since he has trouble writing I wrote out his answers and even engaged in helping to get the answers without giving it away. I felt good about it though because without my help he would have had a very hard time with the test and with me he was able to succeed and finish every question. One wish I would like to make for myself would be to challenge the one student I work with often a bit more to allow his learning to progress at a more steady pace so it will be of value to him next year so he can succeed.

__ Week 11: FINAL ENTRY __
Sometimes stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something you wouldn’t necessarily do can be an unexpected benefit. By first choice Peer Tutoring was not something I had in mind. I was originally in History 12 and needed a different class to enrol in, and Peer Tutoring was one that was suggested so I went for it. And little did I know that it would be a valuable and rewarding experience in my final year at Glen Eagle. I do confess that the first day I walked into my Peer tutoring class of Jumpstart 9 I was very nervous. I was nervous about what the students were going to think, whether or not the teacher would like me, and if I was going to be a good tutor or not. However, I do not recall why I was so nervous considering I was dealing with a group of grade 9’s who were probably more intimidated by me then I was of them. As a couple weeks past I soon realized what a great teacher and group of students I was going to be working with. It was interesting to be on the other side of the student desk and be an active participant standing along side the teacher. I enjoyed the power and influence I was able to have amongst the students as well as the bigger responsibilities that I was obligated to take. I loved having the opportunity to help students and learn a little bit about each individual, after I managed to learn all of their names of course. I value every moment I had in that class because each day I was learning something new. Whether it was how to use the photo copy machine, or how to better my tutoring skills, or even gaining knowledge in topics being studied in class. My favourite topic covered was about First Nations, which allowed me to gain more knowledge for myself. I got the opportunity to make bracelets and listen to an emotional speech of the life of a former Residential School survivor. I’m glad I was able to become closely related and engaged in each students learning over this semester and it is a memory I will definitely hold with me for years to come. Now at the end of my high school career there are many things that I will keep with me that have benefited me as a student. Peer tutoring has taught me some valuable lessons and skills and I am glad that I was able to be a part of a wonderful class. Sometimes you need to step out of the box and try something new, because you never know what experiences you could be missing out on. Farewell