Franklin Elementary first-grade teacher Serina Tackett helps student Micah Rodriguez with a math problem during an after-school program Wednesday at the school.
Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza
Eleven first-graders at Ben Franklin Elementary School receiving after-school tutoring from teacher Taylor Calvert are going fishing — virtually, playing a game called Blooket on their Chromebooks.
Sharks and tusked narwhals fly about the screen as the children try to pass math problems and spelling tests, not really realizing that what they’re doing is learning.
“It’s a fun way to get kids involved with their learning,” Calvert said Wednesday. “They think it’s a game. This is one of their favorites.”
Special Student Relief federal funding bankrolls the tutoring program, which is free to students who need to get up to speed on their academics following the COVID pandemic. Prepackaged snacks are offered to students each session.
“When we have tutoring, we can have it in a smaller group, and so compared to our normal day, it helps us get more one-on-one time with our kids,” Calvert said. The average daily classroom numbers about 21 pupils.
“You see what areas they might be struggling in, or what they might be excelling in, to assess what they can do in their normal day-to-day classes,” Calvert added. “They can be more confident and enjoy school more.”
“We’re able to sit down and focus more on certain skills in a smaller group that we can’t focus on so much in a classroom,” agreed Serina Tackett, another first-grade teacher tutoring a group of 11. “We see what the students are struggling with and hit those skills.”
Tackett called Blooket “a really fun, engaging game that the kids love. If they love it and it keeps them learning, then why not do it?”
Tutoring sessions are more tech-oriented than the ordinary classroom, where workbooks and writing journals tend to prevail. Tackett said the interactive digital sessions can be more engaging and that she sees her charges light up after experiencing an a-ha moment.
“They seem to connect with it, and you can see them think, ‘Oh, yes, I have it,’” she said. “I really feel like with the way we’re going with more digital technology, they really catch on to that more quickly.”
The tutoring program is offered throughout the school. It receives plenty of applicants, and most but not all kids make the cut during the selection process.
“We’d love to include more children,” Calvert said.
Tutoring has been offered for students in all schools this semester on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays for one and half hours each day from Feb. 21 to April 13. Elementary students attend from 2:45-4:30 p.m., and middle- and high-school students attend from 3:30-5 p.m.
Teachers are compensated $40 an hour for 1.5 hours each day.
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