Profile :: Raphael Bivas
Interviewer:: Jonah Sidman

Do you wanna describe your project for me?

Originally I was an America Counts math tutor at Langston middle school, but a few days into the program there really wasn’t a lot for me to do.  I was assigned to an eighth grade teacher, and it was only during homework lab that she saw me helping out this one girl with a learning disability.  So this teacher thought that maybe it would be better if I just worked with this one student throughout the day, to sit in on her core classes and guide her and explain instructions to her if she had difficulty understanding.  Basic things like that.

So far it’s really been a mix; there’ve been some days when I really have a lot that I can work on with her, and I try to do my best if there’s an opportunity for me to explain an important concept to her—I certainly will do that, because of course the best way to teach is to help students help themselves.  There’ve been some days when there hasn’t really been much to do, but I still stay anyway.  Sometimes in those classes I just contribute little pieces of information, and the teacher has kind of gotten to expect that.  So far she likes that she has someone as knowledgeable as I am to enhance the material, especially if it helps get concepts through to the students.  And I’m also there just to keep order in the classroom and to help other students as well if they have a question about how to spell something.  Or I just make suggestions if I see that a lot of students are struggling with one activity, and I might give suggestions about how they might have an easier time doing it, by encouraging cooperation.  That sort of thing.

But mostly you’re just working with one student?

Yeah, that’s what I was assigned to do.  But in the past week I’ve branched off more.  Other students see that I’m there, and because I may not always have something to do, if they realize that they need my help they will find me or I’ll find them.  The teachers are usually fine with it because it saves them having to deal with one student’s issues, if I can just help them to answer a question that they may have.  So it’s been good.  And it’s also been good being in the class, reviewing some of this information or learning something that I may have forgotten from when I was in school.

Have you tutored before?

Yeah, I’ve actually been doing something in the schools for every semester.  I got a lot of different experiences.  I was a TA for a math teacher in middle school my first semester here, and then I helped a student in the after school math program at Prospect Elementary, and then I did in-class tutoring in very different settings both semesters of sophomore year.  I devoted my time to one student who was very precocious, and I see him now in middle school.  He’s a year ahead in math, and I actually ran into his parents a few weeks ago at the airport, and they thanked me for having worked with their son.  So it was nice to know that my tutees still remembered me appreciated having my help.  And then last year I volunteered at the Murray Ridge School, working with some students there, mostly in the artistic spectrum, and I did that for credit.  It was good, and gave me some experience working with students who were officially learning disabled.

When I first came to college I didn’t think about pursuing a career in education.  My mother works with students who need help with reading, and I see a lot of the same now in the elementary school.  She says it’s a struggle, but I know that she really cares about the students and the state of education.  And now having done all this work in the schools I enjoy it and I’d consider having a career in education, perhaps math education at higher levels.  For the most part I certainly enjoyed the experience, and it’s something I wish to keep doing.

How long have you been involved in tutoring?

Well, I only really started it at college freshman year.  I was eligible for work-study,a nd I got the notification about the community service work-study program, and I saw the thing about America Counts and math tutoring and I’d been told back in high school that I should be a math tutor.  It was the most appealing work-study option I found, and it’s something I’ve just kept doing.

Do you have anything to say to other students who might want to do this kind of project?

I think it’s something to look in to.  It’s actually a very nice winter term project because the schedule works nicely.  You get up early, but at least you have afternoons free and it’s not necessarily very demanding either.  But it’s very helpful because this is one month where many students in town are doing many important things because this is around the time of semester break.  So there’s a lot of review going on, and this is one time when the regular programs from the College’s academic year aren’t active, so it’s important to have some people still staying around and getting them help.  And it’s also good because as a winter term project, you can give more time to education than you normally would in the regular academic year.  So it’s good, especially if you want to explore education in any field, whether as a teacher, or as a specialist of some sort.  You get class time with students, which is always good.  So that’s my plug for the program!

Do you want to say something about yourself, like what you’re interested in?

I’m a neuroscience major, so while many of my peers are probably working on senior projects, I’m just helping out in the middle school.  That’s the way things turned out this year, but I think it’s good because it’s something I enjoy doing.  And it may have benefits later on, doing this program.  I think it’s good to have someone like me who is knowledgeable about math, since it’s so important in science.  I can speak from experience about how important math is, if students are struggling with a concept or seem not to be interested.  So I think it’s good to have that, because it’ll really encourage them if they know how useful what they’re learning is.