Homework help

SBHS students lend aid as part of library program.

By: Tammy Tibbetts
   It’s a Thursday evening at the South Brunswick Public Library and, as would be expected, a group of high school students chat at a couple of tables on which they’ve spread their books, binders and backpacks.
   However, these students aren’t working on their latest research project. They’re waiting for elementary school children who might drop in for free homework help.
   The teens are part of the library’s student-run tutoring program, offered between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday to anyone in grades kindergarten through sixth grade.
   Saleena Davidson, the young-adult librarian who oversees the program, said there is a waiting list of students from grades six through 12 who want to tutor. She’s hoping that by increasing awareness of the tutoring service, there will be more children available to give them the opportunity.
   "My goal is for tutors to not have one minute to work on their own homework," she said, referring to how they keep busy until a child comes.
   Some nights, like on Jan. 13, no children show up, but on others there could be as many as 15 who need help learning to count, read or mastering their ABCs.
   What makes the program unique is that, while Ms. Davidson serves as the advisor, high school students run the program. Every night, there is a student acting as supervisor who monitors the two to four tutors on duty, assigns them children to tutor and makes sure the sessions run smoothly.
   Pranita Mehta, the South Brunswick High School sophomore who supervises on Thursdays, said she enjoys the responsibility.
   "I can be more helpful now and I know how to oversee people, even some who are older than me," she said.
   Pranita said that although she is in a position above the juniors and seniors who tutor, they still respect her and work well with her.
   As Pranita and the other supervisors develop their leadership skills, the tutors strengthen their teaching abilities and become more patient, which young children will test if they are not focused.
   Dorothy Chan, a sophomore, said she once tried to make a multiplication lesson more fun by laying candy out in groups on the table so the grade-schooler could actually visualize the calculation.
   While reminiscing about the experiences in a roundtable discussion, Lauren Choo, a junior, said she once worked with a fourth-grader on a paper he had to write about a tribe. He had to summarize the topic but wasn’t confident that he could do it.
   "I wanted to show him he could do it on his own," Lauren said.
   She asked the boy to tell her about the tribe and then helped him to organize his ideas, careful not to tell him exactly what to do.
   Keeping the children engaged in the lesson is a priority for the student tutors. Annie Zhang, a sophomore, said that one method she used when helping a girl with reading was to read one page to her, have her read the next and then continue alternating.
   More than 200 children took advantage of the tutoring program in 2004, its first full year in operation, according to Ms. Davidson. She hopes the program will continue to grow because it not only provides elementary school students with the extra help they need, but also lets teens build character.
   "It’s a lot of fun to watch (the teens) take on responsibility," Ms. Davidson said. "They get more sure of themselves and more apt to speak their mind and more comfortable with me as a person and not just as an authority figure."
Homework help is available to students in grades kindergarten through sixth Mondays through Thursday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. No registration is required. For questions about the program, call the library’s information desk at (732) 329-4000, ext. 7286.