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Three days a week Reading, MD teaches and inspires students at City on a Hill High School. However, the secondary students are not the only ones being taught and inspired. The college student tutors are gaining just as much in the three tutoring days. I have worked at different tutoring jobs around the Boston area, and Reading MD has been the most successful and productive program with which I have worked. Reading MD provides on-target training, efficient lesson plans, and an open and friendly environment while maintaining a high standard of professionalism. Tutoring my student is consistently a high point in my day due to the productive structure and continual progress of my student.

Before the program started, Mark Destler provided extensive and on-target training for the tutors that allowed us to be prepared and ready for any challenge. In addition to orientation training, the weekly training sessions keep us organized and refocus us on our goals with our students. Training sessions are filled with professional training from Mr. Destler along with group activities where we work together to discuss problem areas with students and bounce ideas off each other to find a solution. This has successfully built a camaraderie between tutors. In my free time at work, I find myself updating fellow tutors on my student’s progress and hearing new ideas and news from other tutors.

One of Reading MD’s strengths is the structure of the program. The lesson plan provides the tutors with an efficient plan for the limited time they have with the students. I was unaccustomed to the schedule set up for the program, but once I adjusted to it, I found that I had the most productive tutoring sessions with my student. Time was never wasted but neither was it rushed. The lesson plan is a useful material for the tutors because is prepares the tutor for the day ahead and keeps the tutor focused on the lesson. I now realize that in other tutoring programs I would tend to go off on tangents for fifteen minutes and never finish my lesson plan. This past term I have learned how to manage my time better with my student to have a more productive tutoring session. Because of the variety of activities, I find my student also stays focused and engaged, so that before you know it, it is time to go.

This semester my student and I have been working on writing well-developed essays in preparation for the 10^th grade MCAS. At the start of the program, my student and I would read aloud and attempt to discuss the passage. However, I found my student to continually be at a loss of words. When I gave her writing prompts, I found her sitting there for long periods of time producing a couple of disjointed sentences. Throughout the semester I worked on inspiring my student to think creatively about interpretation which helped to give her the confidence to speak her mind. I found myself taking ideas from other tutors at training sessions and implementing them in my lesson plans. For example my fellow tutor, Mr. Zinni, gave me a great idea he had been using with his student. His idea of making the student come up with three main arguments to a writing prompt in the five minute “Do Now” at the beginning of the class was a success with my student. After my student took her Writing MCAS, she came into tutoring talking about her essay with satisfaction written on her face. Looking back at the beginning of the program, I am so proud of the gains my student has made. She now not only articulates her thoughts better, but is able to write a well-developed introduction.

On my way to work, I take the bus with worries on my mind of college and projects, but the bus ride home is a different story; I am filled with a sense of pleasure and success. I am going home knowing I had a productive day with my student, looking forward to continuing the progress she has been making, and realizing that Reading MD’s structure and support has made all the difference.

Heather Felix

Reading, MD Lead Tutor Fall 2005-present

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