I sit down at the dining table with papers laid out in front of me. I can’t figure out practice problem six for my quiz in two days. I call out my older brother’s name. He comes out of his room and sits down at the table with me to explain which formula I should use and why.
Though I don’t live with my brother, having family members help me through any schoolwork is a daily occurrence. My parents have taken the courses I’m currently enrolled in. They also have the time and patience to walk me through any roadblocks I encounter. Similarly, I am at hand to assist my sister.
This is far from the case for everyone.
Not everyone has support when completing schoolwork. 23.1% of high school students do not receive any help from their parents, found by a 2007 NCES survey, for several reasons.“For [the parents], school experiences, economic and time constraints, and linguistic and cultural practices have produced a body of knowledge about school settings that frequently goes unacknowledged.” There may not be a direct relationship, but a tutor can help a lot.
Peer tutoring is a well-established practice and has shown much success at many institutions. Help hours are common for many college classes, and universities might have more direct peer tutoring systems. “”I think part of the reason peer tutoring is so effective is that peer tutors are students and know what it is like to grope with their writing,” said Sheila M. Reindl, director of the Harvard University Writing Center.” Holding office or help hours and having a system of peer review in writing centers is common in colleges and peer tutoring ideology should be brought into more high schools.
A Tennessee peer-tutoring program, Peer Power, started by student —— —–, is helping pave the path. Peer Power, which pays students to tutor and help students who are ‘left in the dark,’ has been very successful and increased the school’s algebra scores.
Some believe helping their peers isn’t a role for students, believing it is the teacher’s role or maybe ‘the blind leading the blind.’ “Mr. Kail and others said peer tutoring provided opportunities not always available in a traditional classroom setting. Students with similar backgrounds can sometimes explain concepts to one another more easily than an instructor. Additionally, they often ask their peer tutors questions they might not otherwise raise for fear of appearing ignorant.”
Given the benefits to both tutor and student, along with the positive impact on schools themselves, school districts should implement peer-tutoring programs and systems.
Category 1: Idea Development
PRAISE: I really liked your introduction and I thought placing your claim at the end of your essay worked well!
SUGGESTION: I don’t think any changes are needed, but maybe you could make your call to action at the end more specific as to what kind of peer tutoring programs would be the most effective.
Category 2: Organization
PRAISE: I liked how you separated each of your major points into paragraphs, including examples of peer tutoring and statistics.
SUGGESTION: You could maybe make the transitions between each paragraph a little stronger, though the essay already flows very well.
Category 3: Style
PRAISE: Your essay includes many effective examples of logos using statistics and expert testimonies, which make your point especially persuasive!
SUGGESTION: I think the evidence you have provided already works to get your point across, but you could maybe add more evidence that appeals to your audience’s emotions to balance it out.
The development of ideas in this piece is very clear, and I liked how you placed the main claim at the end. This really tied the whole piece together. The organization of this piece was also done very neatly. I liked the way that you started with a personal experiences and then went further into statistics and other examples. The organization flowed nicely, but transitions especially at the beginning could be stronger. The logical appeal to the audience is very strong through the given statistics, which appeals to LOGOS. I think that an appeal to PATHOS would make this essay much stronger.