• Welcome
  • Welcome
• Background
  • Why Teaching?
  • Teaching Philosophy: College Not a Goal but a Fact
  • Professional and Educational Background
• Experiences in Education
  • Introduction
  • Breakthrough Collaborative Sacramento
  • A Better Chance Program
  • Boston Collegiate Charter School
• Academic Work at Hamilton College
  • Introduction
  • Mathematics Major
  • Hispanic Studies Minor
• Educations Studies at Hamilton College
  • Introduction
  • Issues in Education
  • Curriculum and Decision Making
  • Ethnography and the Learning Enviornment
  • Education Practicum
• Resources
  • Inspriring Instruction and Pedagogical Techniques
  • Bibliography

A Better Chance Program

Clinton, NY

For the past three years I have tutored with the program, A Better Chance (ABC). A Better Chance takes students from low-resource areas throughout the country and places them in better school systems. Many of the boys come from areas such as, New York City, Boston, and Albany. At the Clinton, New York site there are two boys for each grade level (ie. two freshman, two sophomores, etc.). These boys attend the local high school and live in a house that is located on Hamilton College campus, behind the Science Center.

During my time working with this program I have watched these high school boys grow, both figuratively and literally. I have learned how to use different tutoring techniques for different learners. There are always puzzling moments at the ABC house that have to do with academics and other situations that arise in the house. For example, many students are usually in the same Math class but are at different levels academically. I have found it difficult when the student that understands the material tries to help the other student by just giving them answers. This is where I must step in and try to help each student individually. I have focused in on the difficulty of differentiated instruction. Since these moments occur so often I find myself turning to the internet to find the best ways to tutor students that are at different levels of understanding. Below you can find the links to these sites that have really helped me grow as a tutor and a differentiated learning instructor.

• • Differentiated Instruction-Glencoe

• • The Master Tutor: A Guidebook For More Effective Tutoring
  • How to Tutor a High School Student