Celebrating My One Year Teacherversary

By: Camila Grases ‘21

Almost one year ago today I joined JEP’s Readers Plus Program as a reading and writing tutor. And while this job is a little different from your regular teacher-in-front-of-twenty-students type of work, it still presented some really interesting challenges for me. 

Ever since I was a kid, I had considered becoming a teacher. In 5th or 6th grade, I would daydream in class about how I, as the teacher, would make the class even better. Teachers that I had, like Mr. Mispagel in 7th grade, Mr. Kim in 8th, Mr. V my junior year of high school, inspired me to consider the possibility that I too could be a great teacher like them. Thinking back on my time with them, however, I have noticed something glaring about their style: they made it look so easy.

They Always Seemed to Know What They Were Doing

And we take this for granted all the time. Coming up with a new lesson, a new topic, reading, activity every single day is such a daunting task. Not only that, but you have to make sure your students understand what they have been taught already before you move on. 

For me, I have to make four lesson plans a week, two for each student I have. There are so many complications surrounding this because you never really know what it is that your students know. The expectation when they move up a grade (in my case from 3rd to 4th) is that they will know everything they need to know. But that is almost never the case. Some students retain certain information better than others: some are better at reading while others are better at writing. And once you finally feel like you have a good grasp on what you think your students need the most help with, the semester changes and you are assigned a new student.

There is No One Way to Learn

You often hear your teachers talk about what kind of learner you are: do you learn best visually, kinesthetically, or through auditory means? But the truth is, styles of learning are dynamic. Different things require different methods of learning, and no two people will ever learn in the exact same way. So while I may plan one lesson for one student, I always have to be flexible in doing the same lesson with their classmate. 

After realizing this, I began to wonder just how difficult it is for teachers who have twenty or even thirty students. How do you ensure that they have all learned what they are meant to learn? Suddenly, it makes sense why one of my fourth grade students is reading at a third grade level and the other can read whole chapters in less than twenty minutes. Part of my job is to equalize this discrepancy.

The Hardest Part of Being a Tutor is that Students Tell Me Everything

And I mean everything. Kids can’t keep secrets they don’t understand. I have been told about a nudist aunt who hosts parties at her home. I have been told about the bullying that they experience: the hair pulling, the “s” word (stupid), the fights that they have witnessed. I’ve heard about the urban legends of the elementary school like “this bathroom is haunted and that’s why it’s been locked for five years.” I learn a lot about the teachers too just by hearing my students talk; how this teacher is mean because she’s always angry (so she has little patience with children) and how the other is the best because she has all the patience. 

But in hearing this, my students never fail to surprise me in how mature they can be about these situations. They confess to me that students make fun of them for being pulled out of class to come with me. And when I tell them that it’s not because they are less intelligent than their classmates, they nod and hit me with a “I know. We all just learn at different speeds,” and then continue reading.

What is Reader’s Plus?

Reader’s Plus is a program under JEP that assigns individual tutors to elementary-age students who are struggling to keep up with their classmates in either reading or math. Readers are student workers, but there are other ways to get involved with the program that does not require a long-term commitment. Many professors offer extra credit to students who teach K-12 students specially designed courses that involve whatever you are learning in the professor’s class. Check out the website if you want to get involved (sign-ups begin during the first two weeks of class) or simply want to learn more! After all, Einstein famously said, “If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.”

Want more from Trojans 360?

Visit Trojans 360 on Facebook & Twitter to stay up to date with more student content! You can also Ask A Trojan an anonymous question, and we’ll try to answer it in a future post. And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!

Trojans 360 is USC’s official student-run blog. Content created by students, for students.