Peer Tutoring to Enhance Autonomous Learning – Student’s Achievements – Middle School

Dear community, we wish to share and celebrate Kathleen Thovinson’s achievement regarding the quality work and commitment depicted in her Graduation Project article. 

Kathleen, as well as eighth grade students, have been working during the school year on the development of a proposal to solve a problem they have identified by following challenging steps such as surveying their community, interpreting perceptions and data, researching and discovering authors whose scientific findings and literature can provide support to the students’ proposals and justifications for the topic they have chosen. 

Each one of the proposals has a unique approach related to social, environmental or integral health issues within the community to encourage and foster students’ life competencies THISREAL (technology use, health competence, inquiry thinking and acting, systems thinking and solving issues, relating well with others, ecological competence, analysis and assessment of self, as well as language competence and leading). 

The integration of virtues in our English class throughout the year has been vital for the different products students have created to demonstrate the process of their proposals. Students first were required to identify a systemic issue and key concepts related to it, then write a literature review of previously published papers and work on a specific topic to bring reliability to their ideas. Secondly, students carried out a survey in which they could collect the community’s perception regarding the reasons behind the problem they want to solve. The outcome of the surveys were later presented through a Shark Tank Video for students to work on their public speaking skills and digital literacy, which allows them to use technology to find, evaluate and communicate information. 

The next step was to write an article in which students could elaborate more on the context, the issue, a solution, and three arguments to justify the reason why their proposal was effective and should be chosen. This article has been divided into two drafts to help students have a better understanding of the writing process and provide feedback and feedward (new assessment concept in the international community that wants to provide help for upcoming results instead of past results) that can help students have a progressive and successful improvement.  

The desired picture is for students to have a formal Graduation Project presentation that resembles the well known and popular TED Talk format where the complete process and outcome is shared with the community. 

Kathleen’s proposal is focused on an alternative shift of roles that has long been assigned to teachers only, the positive effects of peer tutoring on students’ autonomous learning process and how students can both contribute and benefit from collaborative learning. This is Kathleen’s first draft as she will continue improving her article this week to have her final article ready for the graduation project presentation which will  take place at the end of May.

Natasha Restrepo Carmona  Middle School English Teacher 

 

Resumen:Estimada comunidad, deseamos compartir y celebrar el logro de Kathleen Thovinson en cuanto a la calidad del trabajo y el compromiso representado en su artÃ

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