Provide Support

Providing Support helps youth complete tasks and achieve goals.

Providing Support helps youth complete tasks and achieve their goals. More than supporting success, providing support helps students build up confidence along the way. This can be as easy as breaking down problems into smaller steps and starting with the ones students have already mastered. You can also leverage each student’s funds of knowledge (knowledge and experiences developed culturally in their families and communities) to provide scaffolding for them to grow. The following actions can Provide Support, and you'll find activities below. Click here to download this page as a PDF.

Help students navigate their learning experience.

Learning does not happen in a vacuum—students bring various strengths and funds of knowledge that can be leveraged to facilitate learning. Students also face disproportionate challenges and inequities that can be barriers to learning (e.g., stress, trauma, limited access to resources). Here are ways you can help students navigate their learning experience:

- Help students figure out how to do things that are new to them.
- Work with students to find appropriately challenging problems—this will look different for each student.
- Unmet basic needs can make learning difficult (e.g. hunger, tiredness, anxiety). Consider meeting these needs before tutoring (e.g., allowing naps, providing snacks, checking in emotionally).
- Educate students not just on the subject matter but how to approach their own learning (e.g. How do they prefer to be taught? What do they need to learn new information?)

Empower students to pursue their education.

Support doesn’t mean taking over or controlling math learning. Provide Support by creating contexts where students feel safe to take risks, push themselves, and build up confidence to take charge of their own lives. Here are ways you can empower students:

Empower students to pursue their education.
Regularly remind your students to ask for help when they need it.
Tailor learning goals to strategically build on student needs, skills, and confidence levels.
Encourage your students to take ownership for their own learning (e.g., set goals, change the pace).
Scaffold instructions to strategically build youth skill and confidence.

Advocate for students outside the learning environment.

Learning isn't isolated to one math problem or the classroom itself. Providing Support includes advocating for students as they navigate various relationships, social contexts, and school systems that can either help or hinder learning. For more on becoming aware of these contexts, see Culturally Responsive Relationships. Here are ways you can advocate for your students:

- Advocate for students outside the learning environment.
- Build relationships with people involved in student learning (teachers, administrators, parents, etc). Share with them the strengths and successes of your student.
- Identify barriers to student success that are outside of their control and assess any actions you can take to address the barriers?.
- Actively adapt the learning environment to maximize attention and minimize distractions.
- Communicate clearly when the learning context and/or curriculum negatively impacts students' ability to learn.

Set boundaries for the support you give.
Remember that supporting students isn't solely the responsibility of the tutor, and support should be appropriately limited. Support should be given within the boundaries of program expectations so that tutors don’t burn out. This makes support sustainable and benefits both educator and student alike. Here are ways you can set healthy boundaries:

- Set boundaries for the support you give.
- Make opportunities for small instruction ratios, whether one-on-one or in small groups.
- Establish clear tutoring responsibilities with your team (e.g. what you can provide, what is outside of your control).
- Be strategic about which students receive additional support.
- Reach out to your supervisor(s) for an appropriate course of action when needs exceed tutoring/teaching responsibilities.

How do you help your students reach their goals?

In what ways do you support students differently based on their math ability
and how they feel about math?

Activities that Provide Support

Providing Support creates contexts where students can achieve their goals. Support can happen one-on-one and in group settings, and it can happen before, during, or after the learning experience. Here are specific activities you can use to Provide Support in your learning context:

4S Conversations
One-on-One Activity, Group Activity | 15 minutes

WOOP Technique
One-on-One Activity | 15 minutes

Green Yellow Red Light
One-on-One Activity, Group Activity | 15 minutes

Scaffolding
Personal Reflection | 15 minutes

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4S ConversationsOne-on-One Activity, Group Activity | 15 minutes

WOOP TechniqueOne-on-One Activity | 15 minutes

Green Yellow Red LightOne-on-One Activity, Group Activity | 15 minutes

ScaffoldingPersonal Reflection | 15 minutes

4S Conversations
One-on-One Activity, Group Activity | 15 minutes

WOOP Technique
One-on-One Activity | 15 minutes

Green Yellow Red Light
One-on-One Activity, Group Activity | 15 minutes

Scaffolding
Personal Reflection | 15 minutes