Tag: Level Up Tutoring

With the end of the school year right around the corner, now is the best time to get test prep, beneficial study habits, and homework help at your community library through the free tutoring program Level Up.

Meet Michelle Newsome! Michelle tutors at the Fairborn Community Library, and she taught high school chemistry for 21 years before becoming a current chemistry professor at Wright State University.

I had the chance to discuss Level Up with Michelle.

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What made you want to tutor at GCPL?

I have noticed that the educational experiences of some of my students, due to COVID, is not up to the standard I expect. I know that is happening to all teachers. Students are not prepared because online learning was hard. I wanted to help fix that gap in learning. 

To you, what makes Level Up tutoring such an important library program for the community?

This program gives families a support system. Students and parents need help keeping up with schoolwork, fixing the gaps in learning that were missed in the COVID experience. This program provides parents with experts in education that can help their child.

What is a success story you’ve seen through Level Up?

We have a 3^rd grade girl who comes at least once per week. She has received awards for attendance in the program. When she started, we were working with her on her math homework. It was a struggle because the concepts were building on multiplication and eventually division. It became evident that she did not know her multiplication math facts. That became our focus. I am happy to report we are now at mastery for all but the 8 and 9’s.  We are working on those! Her reading has also progressed to chapter books instead of easy readers.  We love working with this young lady. 

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When it comes to academic success, your library is here to help you LEVEL UP! Find tutoring times at your community library at https://greenelibrary.info/levelup/.

This program is supported by the State Library of Ohio with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

At the library, our Level Up tutors are qualified to help Greene County students of all academic levels. Whether your student attends one session or 10 sessions, the Level Up tutors will help your student achieve their academic goals.                                                                  

Meet Kirsten Gum! Kirsten tutors at the Fairborn Community Library and taught at Fairborn Intermediate for five years. She taught two years in fifth grade and three years in fourth grade.

I had the chance to discuss Level Up with Kirsten.

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What made you want to tutor at GCPL?

I took this year off from teaching to be at home with my son. Tutoring is a great way for me to get back into the “classroom” and help the kids in our community while still being able to stay home with my son during the day. 

To you, what makes Level Up tutoring such an important library program for the community?

Level Up is a great program for all students, from those who may have gaps in learning due to COVID, to those who struggle with certain subjects, or simply those who need a little extra help on homework.

What’s a student success story you can share?

I have had the privilege of helping a second-grade boy from Fairborn schools. He struggles with phonics and reading. We have been working on vowel sounds and blends. He has improved greatly over the last three months. He is now to the point where he is correcting himself without being prompted. 

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When it comes to academic success, your library is here to help you LEVEL UP! Find tutoring times at your community library at https://greenelibrary.info/levelup/.

This program is supported by the State Library of Ohio with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Level Up program started at the Fairborn Community Library nearly a decade ago, and it’s still going strong. The program’s sustainability comes from the community’s need for accessible tutoring, but also the tutors that diligently work to help your students!

Meet Lucas Mohme! Lucas tutors at the Fairborn Community Library, and this is his first year teaching in Fairborn City Schools. Starting out as a phonics intervention teacher, Lucas has recently taken over a third-grade homeroom position.

I had the opportunity to discuss Level Up with Lucas.

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What made you want to tutor at GCPL?

I was very interested to tutor at GCPL because I knew I could help students who were struggling or who were intrinsically motivated to be there. Getting to help students between K-12 is a unique experience where I get to work on high level math and teach reading strategies in the same session.

To you, what makes Level Up tutoring such an important library program for the community?

Many students come into Level Up with homework they do not understand and probably would not finish on their own. We get the opportunity to not only help those students complete their homework, but we also get a one-on-one time to help them solidify their understanding of the concept. Plenty of students have even come into the tutoring sessions with their friends instead of hanging out in the common area. They see that there is homework help available and take up the opportunity to work with us.

What is a student success story you’ve seen through Level Up?

There is one student from Fairborn City Schools who is a regular at the library for our tutoring sessions. At the beginning of our program in October or November, she came in struggling with geometry. Her quiz and test scores were not where she wanted them to be, and she didn’t even know how to begin most problems on her homework.

She comes in about once a week for extra help and ends up staying for an average of two hours. This gives us a chance to go really in depth on the geometry concepts that she is learning about. I will have her show me what she knows or thinks she knows on her homework so that I can see how she thinks about each concept. Then we typically use whiteboards where I do each problem with her until we have constructed enough to where she can do them independently.

Throughout this school year I have seen her growth in understanding. Her quiz and test scores are in the A-B range where she is happier with the results!

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Stop into the Fairborn Community Library every Monday and Wednesday from 3:30-6:30 for homework help from Lucas and our other amazing Fairborn tutors!

When it comes to academic success, your library is here to help you LEVEL UP! Find tutoring times at your community library at https://greenelibrary.info/levelup/. This program is supported by the State Library of Ohio with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Level Up tutoring program has seen success across all 7 community libraries at GCPL, and we’re so happy to see so many students’ achievements happening at the library! The real work happens with the students and their tutors at each Level Up session, so who are these tutors helping your students?

Meet Cindy Mash! Cindy tutors at the Xenia and Jamestown community libraries and recently retired after teaching history and English for 32 years. She mainly taught grades 7-12 at Greeneview High School in Jamestown.

I had the opportunity to chat with Cindy about Level Up.

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What made you want to tutor at GCPL?

I have always enjoyed helping students do their best. Level Up seemed like the perfect opportunity to connect with students and help them improve their study skills and knowledge base.

To you, what makes Level Up tutoring such an important library program for the community?

Level Up is set up to meet the specific needs of each student. One-on-one tutoring such as this allows students to catch up or move forward at their own pace. 

What are some student success stories you’ve seen through Level Up?

Small daily successes add up! Here are some successes I’ve had:

• A Greeneview second grader got an A on a spelling test after practicing his toughest words at Level Up.
• A Xenia freshman made up several missed assignments in one session, with the goal of getting a passing grade in English.
• A private school 2nd grade student is learning Spanish vocabulary.
• A Greeneview 3rd grader practiced math facts for better speed in solving problems.
• I am learning American Sign Language with a Xenia area private school student. We work together each week to learn new signs.
• Several Xenia students of all grades complete homework assignments every week, mostly on their own, getting tips and encouragement from the level up tutoring team.

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If you have a student who needs academic help, come out to the Xenia or Jamestown community libraries and work with Cindy, or any of our other amazing tutors!

When it comes to academic success, your library is here to help you LEVEL UP! Find tutoring times at your community library at https://greenelibrary.info/levelup/. This program is supported by the State Library of Ohio with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

At GCPL, we try to provide you with free access to as many resources as possible; the library is a champion of all pastimes, hobbies, and endeavors you wish to take on! We strive to have all the things you want and need, and that didn’t stop when the pandemic began in 2020, it only made us more determined to provide help where you need it – like expanding a program that prioritizes our students in Greene County and their academic success. According to the Ohio Department of Education, remote learning had a significant impact on third grade proficiency in fall of 2020, falling as low as 12 percentage points in fully remote schools compared to falling 8 points for the schools with hybrid schedules.

When it became clear there were students in our community struggling academically and needed the face-to-face academic help, Elizabeth Cusack, Deputy Director of the Greene County Public Library, implemented Level Up after school homework help at all 7 community libraries.

I had the chance to speak with Elizabeth about Level Up, and why it’s such an important program at our community libraries.

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I know Level Up was inspired by a similar program done in Fairborn. What about the Fairborn tutoring program made you think it could be something GCPL could do on a system-wide level?

When I applied for the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant, federal funds meant to assist libraries and their communities as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, I reached out to each of our community libraries and asked what needs they see in their community. There was a common theme of an increase in kids struggling with schoolwork. So, I thought about the successful tutoring program already happening at the Fairborn Community Library through a generous donation – a program that’s been going on for nearly a decade and is very successful in their community – and proposed that we use the grant money to implement one-on-one, in-person academic tutoring at a system-wide level. Once we were awarded the grant, it was so exciting to green light the Level Up program, as it had been in the works for months. It’s great to see so much student success happening in the library!

How do you find tutors and what do you look for when bringing a tutor on for Level Up?

Our tutors are mostly retired teachers, current teachers, and Cedarville University education students. All our Level Up tutors are enthusiastic and happy to help students any way possible. When they were onboarded, we told them that since these are walk-in appointments, they needed to be able to quickly assess needs and adapt to each student. They could see a kindergarten student needing help with reading then a high school student with a geometry assignment back-to-back.  The tutors are able to use resources we have for parents and educators, such as Scholastic Teachables, to identify learning activities and worksheets based on a student’s specific need. Our tutors are seeing students from all grades, academic levels, and walks of life.

Will Level Up be returning for the 2022-2023 school year?

So, this year, we’ve had 129 tutoring sessions with 449 attendees and 25 students have completed 10 sessions or more. Due to the current success of Level Up, GCPL is happy to say that we’re already making plans to continue the program for the entire 22-23 school year. We know for sure that Level Up homework help is happening Fall of 2022!

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It’s no secret COVID has been hard on all of us, but we’re not letting that get us down and neither should you. Your kids are our kids, and GCPL will try our hardest to make sure your students have what they need to succeed.

Throughout our conversation, Elizabeth explained that Level Up is meant to level the playing field when it comes to academic success. Traditional tutoring services can be costly, so the library is here to fill the gap and provide accessible, free tutoring for all students in Greene County.

We also discussed how tutoring can sometimes have a negative connotation, but students at all academic levels may need a little extra help occasionally, and that’s okay! The library is a safe place for all students, and Elizabeth encourages them to utilize this library resource whether they need help with a homework assignment, an essay, or need helpful study tips for an upcoming chapter test.

When it comes to academic success, your library is here to help you LEVEL UP! Find tutoring times at your community library at https://greenelibrary.info/levelup/.