The NHS adviser that I worked with throughout this year retired in April so I was unable to implement the plan like I intended this year. The new NHS adviser was not assigned until June of this year. So my plan is a work in progress and will not be able to be implemented until the 2019-2020 school year. I was however able to talk to administration, math department and the counselors and they are completely on board. I will need to get some things worked out such as a place and time but I am going to do this program for my professional Commitment or PCAP I must do every year.
The challenge is students are failing Algebra 2 and students are struggling in math so they are not taking challenging math classes my goal was to provide help for these students so they can sign up for a math class that will help them score better on their ACT and maybe believe they could go to college. I know that this is my passion and after teaching College Algebra for 8 years students can learn algebra 2 they just might need a little extra help and if this peer tutoring program can help just one student then it will be successful.
I am going to try and implement this with the help of our MBI team. In the 2020 graduating class we are going to see the 3 credits of math affecting graduation rates so I think this peer tutoring program will impact many. Not only help the students that need help in math but help the NHS students gain their volunteer hours. I am hoping a tutor will see they are really good at helping others and go into the field of education.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JOI0ibaIh5DWLCdl8k4y2lyWdHfmtW4RbNg44eqBLvQ/edit?usp=sharing
I don’t have evidence because it has not been implemented yet. All I know is we had 12 and 13 seniors this year that are retaking Algebra 2 and in order to graduate they must pass this year.
I have to communicate with all that can benefit and all that are involved for this program to work. I have to collaborate purposefully in order to be able to get the program off and running. I am very passionate about the fact that every person (no matter their background or status) can learn math they may just need a little extra help and a different method to learn. I will work on my personal effectiveness to make sure my passion is not misconstrued and never give up on finding a way to help these students. I will model resilience and humility because I know the road will get rocky. I will be a coach and a mentor to all involved and do all that I need to do to have the stakeholders by in to this peer tutoring program.
I have already encountered obstacles with our department personnel saying, “oh we used to do this but it died out because nobody wanted to follow through” I am going to make this work because now we have the need. The bottom line is the whole state is watching graduation rates and I teach in the State Capital. If our graduations rates drop because of 3 graduation math credits then people will listen. I do not teach Algebra 2 but I teach the class after that a 4th year that students can take after they take Algebra 2. I know that even the students that pass Algebra 2 are not retaining the information they learned because I have to reteach all the Algebra 2 standards that are required for College Algebra. I have 16 years of experience teaching the class after algebra 2. These students need help. They need a lab per say so this is my way to help these students as Juniors which in turn will help their ACT score and will then help them be able to not only graduate but maybe accomplish their dreams and go to college to be whatever they want to be. I will not give up on these students
Again I will not implement this until this year so I will have to wait to make changes to this capstone. The good news is this will by my 3 year PCAP plan so I will adjust and grow the program each year as needed.