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So What is the Nueva Middle School Tutorial?
Judith Worrall, middle school writing teacher & communications team member


Nueva middle school teachers are excited about student-led tutorial sessions this year. Introduced last fall to help students to get caught up after absences, ask questions about assignments, and ask for more challenging extensions on their work, tutorial has expanded to offer far more during remote learning.

“What we saw in the spring during RLP 2.0 was that tutorials took on a much greater importance,” said Karen Tiegel, interim middle school division head. “It is a time when students and teachers can connect one-to-one, for teachers to evaluate the understanding of the students, and offers a chance for students and teachers to build trust and support when we cannot be in the classroom together. As a result, we added more tutorial time this fall so we could continue to develop these self-advocacy skills.”

This program was introduced last fall in order for students. They can also reach out to their teachers to get to know each other better. More important, tutorials give students a chance to practice self-advocacy so that when it really matters, they are used to reaching out for support.

Launched by our very own Lelia Youn, tutorials began before remote learning and they are a bit different now. Interim Middle School Head Karen Tiegel put together a video for advisors to share in advisory sessions this week.

The advisors and the middle school students reflected on these changes, and the students had a chance to ask questions, recall useful sessions in the past, and to book time with their teachers in Monday advisory sessions.

“I like having tutorials with my teachers for many reasons,” said eighth grader Rohan T. “It allows me to catch up on topics I did not understand in class, and it gives me an opportunity to get help on homework assigned in class that I would not have gotten another way. I can even learn more about a specific area of interest to me. It also helps me get to know my teachers better.“

Another eighth grader, Terry D. shared, “Tutorial time has been a huge help to me when I've needed to reach out to teachers for help or questions about the homework. It's a great asset for students to communicate with their teachers.”

Eighth grade writing teacher Alexa Hart added, “The tutorial program is perfect for those one-to-one check-ins, more personalized instruction, clarifying goals, and relationship building that’s so vital to the Nueva way.”

Click here to view the video that Karen made and advisors shared with the students—and find out more about tutorials the Nueva way!

 

 


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