Schools

Smart, beyond the core

At Brooksville Elementary, teachers specialize in one subject but tutor in another to help kids succeed.

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE, Times Correspondent
Published October 25, 2007

Brooksville elementary teacher Karen Romine may be a music teacher, but she's tutoring students in math in a special program where teachers tutor students one on one or in small groups outside their specialty areas. Romine tutors students for 20 minutes every day.
	[Ron Thompson | Times]

BROOKSVILLE - At Brooksville Elementary School, the so-called "specials teachers" are showing that they really are terrific by going outside of their primary mission in a unique program to help students succeed.

Specials teachers are what the schools call those educators who teach outside of the core subjects. They include the art, music, media center, and math and science labs.

Brooksville Elementary has tapped into their talents through a program of one-on-one and small-group tutoring that provides extra help to students.

Amy Anderson, the school's parent educator, works with parents, students, volunteers and teachers. She explained the program.

The teachers meet with students three times a week for 20 to 30 minutes focusing on individual student needs.

"We're really concentrating on third- to fifth-graders," she said. "Our music teacher is doing math remediation. The others mostly do reading. We just want to make sure every student succeeds."

One focus is fluency. "We use something called 'Think Link,' a program that looks at a student's performance to see what needs to be worked on," she said. "It really customizes the program. You're able to look at test scores, see where they're weak and have questions to work on."

The teachers are not using their planning time for the individualized instruction. "It's actually scheduled in," Anderson said.

The program has been in existence for about three years, she said, but it has evolved. "We're more data driven now. That's actually helped a lot."

Reading resource teacher Michelle Barnes has some small groups and some students she works with one on one. She said part of her job is building up confidence.

Barnes recalled a comment from a professor at Brooklyn College that has become her motto for helping children succeed: "They won't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

So, when she tutors, Barnes said that she first lets them know how much she cares.

Anderson hopes the one-on-one tutoring is helping students beyond their classrooms to score well on the FCATs. "We really think this is why we're an 'A' school," she said. "It's a great team effort."

[Last modified October 24, 2007, 20:02:21]