In previous years, the National Honor Society (NHS) has provided tutoring for students in the high school. Whether a student needed help with History, Biology, Chemistry or English, an NHS member would take time out of their Personal Learning Time (PLT) schedule to tutor.
Recently, NHS members and NHS sponsor, Mr. Kenneth Dickey, started to revamp the old tutoring system. Students who struggle in classes have the opportunity to have private tutoring sessions with NHS members.
The goal of the new tutoring system is to not only help students with their academic work but to allow them to have a role model. Students who are in the tutoring system can grow more from words of encouragement to get them to complete their work.
Current NHS members can bond with students and help them with classes. Having another student help with homework, studying or organization can allow students to feel comfortable in stressful situations.
In years prior, NHS members would go to students’ PLT classes and help them with homework or studying for tests.
“As far as last year goes, I think this is a better system in the fact that we don’t have to go to the students all the time. Often people wouldn’t show up to their class or would get distracted easily by their friends,” Sara Aland (12) said.
Instead of NHS members going to visit students in their PLT classes, the new system allows students to come to them. A major issue that arose in previous years was that students were never in their assigned PLT class. This made it extremely difficult for NHS members to find the students who needed help.
Starting Jan. 13, the high school library will be reserved for tutoring during PLT. The library is a quiet and large space that can keep students from getting distracted. Students will not have to worry about their friends talking to them or dealing with loud settings. Normal PLT classrooms tend to be chaotic, which leads students to not use their PLT productively.
NHS members will sign up for the tutoring sessions they can attend. This means at least a few members will volunteer to help their classmates and peers each PLT.
If students forget to show up to tutoring, teachers will have the ability to send them down themselves. Teachers are the ones who see if a student is struggling the most. This new system allows teachers to take the initiative to provide their students with help.
This year, new members of the NHS get to experience the new tutoring system, as they are not familiar with last year’s system, so it provides a smoother transition.
“I’m looking forward to helping the students improve their grades. I want to try and help anyone who is struggling on anything so they can be successful,” Trinity Vojtko (11) said.
Students tend to lose motivation or struggle halfway through the school year, so having a support system in the school environment can help the students grow academically and mentally.