Why Use Peer Tutoring.

 

As we know, peer tutoring is considered an effective method to use in the classroom because both students involved in the process benefit from it.  I'll be examining this topic today and Friday because it is so important.  Today, we'll look at the benefits and advantages and on Friday we'll look at what you need to do to ensure that peer tutoring works in your classroom. 

First off, students who read and discuss the material with each other tend to remember more and score higher on assessments.  Although the research was done in regard to literacy, the basis should still work in the mathematics classroom because they are reading a specific type of passage.  

In addition, students who worked together as pairs or in groups did better on tests that involved reasoning and critical thinking because they become active learners when they discuss and put the concepts into their own words.  Peer tutoring also helps students improve their communication skills and confidence since those involved in peer tutoring get immediate clarification and feedback.  This is also true when at-risk students use peer tutoring. 

Furthermore, many students also work better with peers than with adult figures.  Consequently, students are more likely to ask questions of each other and more likely to work through a challenging math problem because they are less likely to be teased by others.  

In math, using peer tutoring can help strengthen student knowledge, convert knowledge from short term to long term memory, allows for better mathematical communication when one student explains to the other and can decrease student math anxiety.  

On the other hand, peer tutoring needs to be implemented in a way that avoids some of the pitfalls such as students not providing good feedback or criticizing, or matching two students who are more likely to talk rather than work, In addition, many times, peer tutoring is set up so it is obvious who is the tutor or the tutee and that can make it more difficult.

Fortunately, there are ways to set things up so that much of this does not happen.  Check back Friday to see how one can set up peer tutoring in the classroom so it is more effective.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.

Peer Tutoring.

My principal told me this past Monday that I needed to change the way I write things in my lesson plans from "Students will work together on "  to "Students will teach each other" because he wants it to be that on my lesson plans.  So I'm thinking of stating "Using peer tutoring, students will teach each other" since its actually more accurate.

Peer tutoring is defined as students working in pairs to help each other learn or practice the current mathematical task.  It has also been around in some form since 1795 when it was first promoted in Scotland and over the past 30 to 40 years, it has become quite popular for pairing up students of mixed abilities.

It has been suggested that when pairing students up, they should be of different abilities and students should switch who does the tutoring regularly because as a person explains the material, they are extending their own understanding and learning. So one student is the expert while the other is the novice. 

In addition to extending their understanding, students often undergo higher academic achievement, better relations with other students, increased motivation, and improved social and personal interactions.  Furthermore, teachers have more time to provide individualized instruction as needed while students are getting individualized instruction when the teacher is not available and it cuts down on misbehavior.

Other benefits include  the fact that the interaction between students promotes learning, reinforces individual learning by instructing others, active learning is promoted by direct instruction between students, students are more comfortable with each other, promotes mathematical discussion between students,  and it is the best way to promote mastery.

One thing about peer tutoring is that it is best to provide training for all students so they know what to do and what the teacher's expectations.  Without those, the expert students may do the work for the other student or allow them to copy.  Furthermore, by training all students, it makes it easier for students to switch from tutor to the one being tutored so both have a chance to show their knowledge. 

I have peer tutoring in my classroom and I've seen students who do very little actually gain confidence and begin turning in more and more work until they are succeeding.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.