Learning Partners
The Reich College of Education supervised tutoring program is Learning Partners. Learning Partners is a college/public school/community partnership. Learning Partners provides comprehensive tutoring for young learners in a variety of settings, by ASU students enrolled in the teacher preparation program.
- Spring 2010 Tutoring Opportunities [pdf ~108KB] [doc~38KB]
- Learning Partners Spring 2010 Contact Info [pdf ~81KB] [doc ~31KB]
The successful Learning Partner is teacher/mentor to the young person with whom he/she works. Having been there before, the tutor applies previously gained depth of knowledge in identifying and understanding the academic challenges faced by the young learner. Working with the concept of zones of proximal development is a critical focus in the efforts of the tutor to appropriately challenge the young learner.
An equally important challenge for the tutor lies in the need to develop and exercise genuine empathy for the young learner. "Walking a mile" in the shoes of the other, serves to support the building of bonds between tutor and learner that create a community of vision, purpose and practice. The empathetic mentor becomes a friend to the young learner - not a peer friend, but an adult friend who is a listener, a consultant, and a modeler of positive behaviors.
In the past, Learning Partners have served with:
- Watauga County Schools After-school Program
- Watauga High School (daytime tutoring in support of the academic program)
- Watauga County Elementary/Middle Schools (daytime tutoring in support of the academic program)
- Avery Middle School (Avery County - Gear Up)
- Cranberry Middle School (Avery County - Gear Up)
- Upward Bound (ASU after-school high school student support initiative)
- Grandfather Academy (daytime tutoring in support of the academic program)
- Western Youth Network (after-school elementary/middle school student support initiative)
- Children's Playhouse (daytime tutoring in support of the overall B-Kg learning program)
- RCOE/Belk Library tutoring cohort (after-school tutoring for ASU faculty/staff children and children from alternative learning programs)
The goals of Learning Partners are:
- to create an activity system that promotes cognitive and social development
- to deepen our understanding of how societal entities and individuals help to shape each other
- to provide an activity where undergraduates from the teacher preparation program have the opportunity to connect theory and practice while delivering tutoring services to children
