"Tutors On the Move" traveled to Santa Fe South’s administration building, the site of their summer school program, twice a week. Three to five tutors spent
three hours each day working one-to-one with students. The tutors assisted the students with their course work, but also helped them develop their English speaking and reading skills. This portion of the project ran from July 10-July 28.

"Tutors On the Move" also traveled to Southern Oaks Library where we spent two hours per week, in a reserved, library study-room, hosting English Conversation Group and One-to-One tutoring for adult learners. We conducted a pre-survey, asking questions on students' confidence and speaking level, to be able to judge this growth at the end of the program. This portion of the program ran from July 6-July 28 with one specific one-to-one tutoring session lasting until August 21.

The roundtable discussion will provide an overview of the project’s development, implementation, and evaluation, and it will showcase tutors’ reflections on their growth in Service Learning and Civic Engagement as well as Global and Cultural Competence. In doing so, it will ask participants to explore how they can launch TL in their classrooms, companies, and communities.

How do we put Transformative Learning into action in our own communities? This roundtable will examine a STLR-funded TL project created by peer-tutors at the University of Central Oklahoma. Initially proposed as a Service Learning project which would connect high school English language learners in the Oklahoma City metro with individual academic support and mentoring, “Tutors on The Move” expanded to also serve adult immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship through conversation groups and tutoring at the Metropolitan Library System. Building relationships with those of different socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, the project sought to view the impact of such interactions on both its tutors and target population. The roundtable discussion will provide an overview of the project’s development, implementation, and evaluation, and it will showcase tutors’ reflections on their growth in Service Learning and Civic Engagement as well as Global and Cultural Competence. In doing so, it will ask participants to explore how they can launch TL in their classrooms, companies, and communities.

Roundtable Plan

1. Problem/Inquiry: English language learners and newly-arrived immigrants in the Oklahoma City metro need to know that the University of Central Oklahoma cares about them and is willing to help them accomplish their civic and academic goals.

2. Method of Addressing Issue: To address this issue, the project’s developers first conducted a needs-assessment of community organizations and high schools in the Oklahoma City metro to find how our tutors could best serve the needs of English language learners. This included email and phone communications, meetings with representatives of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Oklahoma City, The Metropolitan Library System, and Santa Fe South Charter High School. As a result of the needs assessment, the project was designed to offer both one-to-one academic tutoring for high school students in the Alpha summer school program at Santa Fe South Charter High School as well as tutoring and conversation groups for adult immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship at Southern Oaks Public Library.

Findings

1. Reflection from SFS Teacher:

We wanted to say thank you to you and the other tutors...  Many of these students lack the confidence to ask for help...  But having a tutor right next to them for one on one interaction gave many of our students the confidence and drive they needed to be successful in an academic setting.  I loved (and hated) how they wished they could have worked with you EVERY day instead of just Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Students who on their own would complete one, maybe two, lessons per day, were able to complete 4 and more lessons in a day.  We look forward to working with you all in the future.

Sincerely,

Kari Allison

Santa Fe South High School Teacher

P.S. The tutoring support was particularly helpful for our ELLs and others who have low reading levels.  Getting them to dissect and really think about what they read and take helpful notes.

2. Hunter’s Reflection:

3. Angela’s Reflection:

4. Brian’s Reflection:

Questions for Attendees and Open Discussion

No outside sources referenced. 

30-Minute Roundtable Session

Communicating Transformative Learning