{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-tsx","path":"/primetutoring","result":{"data":{"primeArticle":{"slug":"prime.tutoring","excerpt":"Online learning has left many grade school students stranded, jumping over technological hurdles for their education. UCLA’s student-led tutoring groups are trying to help.","headline":"Tutoring through troublesome times","author":"Sarah Choudhary","authorbio":"","authoremail":"","authortwitter":"","coverimg":"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.tutoring/web.prime.projectliteracy.AD.Bpain-50e09f226edc84f91d3904673cc85e2c.jpg","covercred":"Alex Driscoll","coveralt":"Photo of Chris Mauerman from Project Literacy.","articleType":"article","updated":null,"content":[{"type":"text","value":"I’m in breakout room five. On my Zoom screen, I see boxes the size of postage stamps, one of which contains a soft-spoken sixth-grade boy from Berendo Middle School. His webcam is disabled."},{"type":"text","value":"Relatable, I remember thinking to myself."},{"type":"text","value":"Tristen Fabre, a fourth-year mathematics for teaching student at UCLA, was teaching the boy the order of operations in a tutoring session. For two years, Fabre has been a member of Los Angeles Student Educational Outreach, a UCLA organization that provides academic support to grade school children in Koreatown."},{"type":"text","value":"As Fabre reviewed the algebra lesson, she guided a Fortnite world warrior profile picture with the voice of a small child."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"On some days, Fabre feels as though she’s speaking into thin air.\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"First, the student screen-shared a homework problem. Then, Fabre screen-shared a digital whiteboard for step-by-step PEMDAS instruction, though unable to see her student’s work. Instead, Fabre asked her student multiple questions via the call’s audio, the only other option of measuring his progress. This ultimately led to a selection of choice B – their exchange continued in this manner for over an hour."},{"type":"text","value":"Months into the pandemic, LASEO and similar student-run community service programs still face numerous challenges adapting to virtual learning."},{"type":"text","value":"If a student leaves their webcam off, Fabre said she cannot always tell if her student understands the material or does their work on a piece of scrap paper."},{"type":"text","value":"As I sat in breakout room five, quietly watching Fabre tutor her student, I’m somewhat skeptical of the student’s affirmations."},{"type":"text","value":"“Does that make sense?” she asked, circling an answer with her cursor on the zoom whiteboard."},{"type":"text","value":"A reserved “Mm-hmm” followed suit."},{"type":"text","value":"On some days, Fabre feels as though she’s speaking into thin air. Though sometimes frustrated, she refrains from requesting that her students have their webcams on because she doesn’t want to invade anyone’s comfort zone, she said."},{"type":"text","value":"Technological issues make tutoring extremely challenging, said Merzia Subhan, a fourth-year psychobiology student. Subhan is the co-executive director of Project Literacy, a student-run organization that offers mentoring and educational services for lower-income Los Angeles communities with systemic illiteracy."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of Merzia Subhan and Chris Mauerman from Project Literacy.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.tutoring/web.prime.projectliteracy.AD.Apain-aaac09a425cee112e87b76a97fb70f81.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Alex Driscoll\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"Poor WiFi connection and malfunctioning Zoom features often interfere with Subhan’s lesson. A one-hour session with high-schooler Abram Magdaleno can turn into two or more hours because of technical challenges."},{"type":"text","value":"“I don’t want to, you know, abandon Abram when the hour is up,” Subhan said.  “I don’t know who he’s going to ask for help.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Subhan said a must-see TikTtok can intermittently disrupt her explanation of a homework problem. But she empathizes with her student’s lack of focus, considering her own exhaustion as the session continues, she said."},{"type":"text","value":"Both PRO-LIT and LASEO experienced a reduction of returning children after transitioning to a virtual format — since last winter, there’s been about a 56% average decline in membership."},{"type":"text","value":"Technological inequity might be responsible for these changes, said Chris Mauerman, a third-year sociology student and Project Literacy’s co-executive director."},{"type":"text","value":"Mauerman said many non-returning students potentially face technological barriers that hinder participation in online tutoring activities. For example, some Project Literacy students don’t have access to a WiFi signal or have a signal that’s too weak to support video-conferencing, he said. The student Mauerman typically tutors endured three months without online classes beginning in March because the student did not have sufficient access to technology."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of Chris Mauerman from Project Literacy.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.tutoring/web.prime.projectliteracy.FC.Cpain-4fdcd546c00409875d2e6c1f08c63e2a.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Finn Chitwood\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"According to a survey by the EdWeek Research Center, 21% of K-12 students were absent from online school throughout the country after initial school closures in March."},{"type":"text","value":"Mauerman’s student did not have a computer he could use to attend Zoom classes, leaving the fifth grader with nothing but a school-provided worksheet packet and little help to learn the material. Left without many options, the student resorted to using his mom’s phone to FaceTime Mauerman. Mauerman said frequent frozen screens and dropped calls arising from inadequate WiFi could interrupt these lessons. At most, they were able to cover a few pages of the packet every week."},{"type":"text","value":"Sadly, Mauerman and his student’s struggles are not unique. According to a Los Angeles Times survey published in August, Southern California school districts with a higher number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch were behind on starting online classes. About 30% of students in low-income districts lacked access to digital devices."},{"type":"text","value":"More than ever, it seems students need the additional support that tutoring offers."},{"type":"text","value":"For some parents, online tutoring pales in comparison to the joys of in-person tutoring. Anayenci Magdaleno’s children attended PRO-LIT tutoring sessions at Alma Reaves Woods Library in Watts, Los Angeles, for the past 14 years, a tradition overturned because of COVID-19."},{"type":"pull","value":"{\"caption\":\"Mauerman’s student did not have a computer he could use to attend Zoom classes, leaving the 5th-grader with nothing but a school-provided worksheet packet and little help to learn the material.\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"“My kids would say ‘Mommy, let’s go to UCLA!’’’ Anayenci said, describing her children’s past excitement for times spent with PRO-LIT tutors. Sessions at UCLA meant fun science experiments which motivated her kids to learn, she said."},{"type":"text","value":"Subhan has tutored Anayenci’s son for four to five hours every week since January 2020. When even Subhan can’t help Abram, like the time the school’s homework software malfunctioned, she tells him to email his teachers."},{"type":"text","value":"Anayenci said she worries about Abram spending many mindless hours sitting in front of a computer screen. But her tone when speaking about Abram’s grades suggests she’s at ease with his academic success thanks to Subhan’s help."},{"type":"text","value":"In turn, Subhan appreciates being close with Anayenci’s family."},{"type":"image","value":"{\"alt\":\"Photo of Merzia Subhan from Project Literacy.\",\"url\":\"https://assets3.dailybruin.com/images/prime.tutoring/web.prime.projectliteracy.AD.Dpain-80c03051cfecb10e850688f35187a50a.jpg\",\"credit\":\"Alex Driscoll\",\"caption\":\"\"}"},{"type":"text","value":"“Anayenci always spends a few minutes talking to me no matter what she’s doing,” Subhan said. “It’s heartening. She shares her struggles and I share my struggles with the pandemic and everything that’s going on.”"},{"type":"text","value":"Subhan worked with Abram throughout quarantine, spending days going over concepts like DNA replication and mnemonics for complementary nitrogenous base pairs. Helping Abram understand that adenine bonds with thymine – because A and T are hard-edged letters – reassured Subhan that she was doing something worthwhile throughout isolation, she said."},{"type":"text","value":"Although tutoring has changed during the pandemic, working with students like Abram has given Subhan a sense of normalcy."},{"type":"text","value":"“All, you know, my senior year plans were kind of falling apart,” she said. “(But) I tutor these kids and make a difference.”"}]}},"pageContext":{"term":"winter21","slug":"prime.tutoring"}},"staticQueryHashes":[]}