Student Spotlight

Two Jackies, One Goal

Tutoring

The first time Jackelyn Garcia, a seventh grader from Hutchinson Middle School in La Mirada, walked in to Tutor Zone her nerves kicked in. As described by her tutor, Jacklynn Kosareff, Jackelyn was “timid, quiet, [and] scared” as it was her “first time at Tutor Zone, the new setting had made her nervous.” However, Both Jackies recall the first session as successful; that day they worked on improving Jackie’s understanding of proportions.

In retrospect, the fact that these two Jackies started working together on proportions seems very ironic. You see proportions are all about two ratios which are equal to each other. Considering that when Jackelyn walked into Tutor Zone she had an F in her math class and now has an A, it is evidently easy to say that these Jackies had one goal, requiring a tutor-student relationship which, like a set of ratios in a proportion, needed to work together equally.

Jackelyn feels that Tutor Zone, in particular her tutor Jackie have changed her perception of schooling and being in a classroom. Jackelynn states “before Tutor Zone, I would daydream in class because my teacher focused his attention on a few of the students with the highest grades.” Additionally, Jackelynn felt that “since I am quiet, I would not ask questions…I would get overlooked by my teacher.” After searching for help from other teachers at her school, Jackelynn grew concerned about her F and sought tutoring help from Tutor Zone.

That is when she met her equal ratio—the other Jacklynn, her tutor at Tutor Zone. Instead of feeling isolated due to her quiet personality at her school, Jackelyn’s personality became her biggest strength at Tutor Zone. Working one-on-one with her tutor, she was able to ask questions to someone she could relate to and more importantly, someone who responded to her needs and way of learning. Jackelyn articulated that “[her tutor] explains things a lot better and helps[her] out on [her] tests and provides strategies so that I do not forget what we learn at tutoring.”

But the tutoring did not simply stop when the hour was up. According to her tutor Jacklynn, Jackelynn took full advantage of the one-on-one tutoring experience—“she takes notes, is not resistant, wants to be challenged, cares and is proactive about her education.” Like most of Tutor Zone students who drastically improve their grades here, Jackelynn Garcia combined what she learned in one hour with a dedication that went beyond the light blue and orange walls of T-Z and of course into her desk at home and at school to go from a F to a A.

The efforts of these two Jackies culminated when Jackelynn earned herself a B+ on a test about geometry. Navigating the difficult waters of shapes and symmetry, of equilateral and isosceles triangles and of course the oval and rigid contours of circles and polygons, both Jackies paddled vigorously in their hour sessions and improved Jackelyn’s grade from a D to an A.

While Jackelyn’s teacher was busy changing the grade on the progress report, Jackelyn’s tutor and parents were busy tearing up about the amazing improvement. Her tutor states “Jackie brought in the test as if it were nothing, when I saw it though, I nearly cried and so did her parents.” The overwhelming response on behalf of the parents and tutor is sharply in contrast with Jackie’s response. Jackelyn did not cry; instead, it seems as if she began developing a confidence with the material so much so that she no longer daydreams in class and actively asks questions in class.

Jackelyn, a now experienced successful student, encourages other students that “when you get a better grade, you become proud of yourself [which] helps you improve in other classes [like science].” Her tutor, of course, also hopes other students adopt Jackelyn’s best quality of being persistently “proactive” so that they too can make such drastic changes in their grades and classes.
Who knew that the nervous, quiet and partly scared student who had an F in her course would develop a whole new formula for success in math? Of course, her tutor and her partners knew. This formula of course is as follows:

The Jackelyn Garcia Formula for Success
2J + JP = F – A
  2 Jackies + Jackelyn’s Proactivity equals moving from an F to an A.