by Akeelya McKenzie
Tutoring at Row New York is not all about the academics.
It is also about helping these students overcome adversity, whether it takes the form of a word problem, or an issue that they have with another student in their group. It’s about helping to guide them to their own epiphanies about themselves; that they are smarter than they give themselves credit for. They are greater than that project they feel they can’t do well on, or the mountain of homework their least favorite teacher has forced upon them. Your job, as a tutor, is to get them to realize that if they apply themselves they are capable of unfathomable feats. But, it’s not always easy.
You start in September with the misconception that tutoring the 8th graders will be about helping them grasp different math concepts or literary devices. You get excited thinking about sharing the aspects of an academic subject you love, and maybe, just maybe, getting one of the students to like it a bit more too. Yet soon you come to understand that tutoring requires constant readjustment. You have to become a chameleon, shifting into a drill sergeant for those who need clear and concise directions, folding into a playmate for those who need to laugh to break out of their shells, molding into a philosopher for those who yearn to think.
The changes are subtle, but, several months in, you find yourself coaxing and prodding and pushing to teach them that they are intelligent, sensitive, incredible, brave, vulnerable, and beautiful individuals. You know them, and how to navigate their insecurities. They have been teaching you too. Through spending time with these 8th graders, you have become more patient, more compassionate, better at listening, more kind. You realize you are not just becoming the person you want your students to be; you are also becoming the person you want to be.
And this, this transformation you begin to see in yourself, is what you love most about tutoring at Row New York. You watch the 8th graders changing, getting stronger and more confident with each new week, but you see that in yourself too. They are more proactive when they have to face challenges – and so are you. They believe in themselves more now than when they started, and you do too. Tutoring, at Row New York, is a yearlong journey that results in an exchange of wisdom among everyone involved. Tutoring is an opportunity for growth.
With only a few months left, you take it all in, and are left thinking that those 8th graders have made a large impact on your life in the span of just a few short months. Those students, coupled with the changes you see in yourself, have made the whole journey worthwhile, and you know given the chance you would tutor for RNY again. Yes, you definitely would. In a heartbeat.
