Spotlighting the Center for Student Success
Here at Queens, students within the College of Arts and Sciences bring their expertise in their respective majors to the broader Queens community – and one way these students do so is by working as subject and writing tutors within the Center for Student Success.
The tutoring program run by the Center for Student Success sees students working together in a relaxed, low-stress environment – and also sees peers helping peers through challenging classes and assignments. Professor Jennifer Smith Daniel, Director of Writing and Learning Services within the Center for Student Success, strongly feels that tutoring benefits not only the tutees being served, but the tutors as well. “When students work together to make meaning for themselves, the collaborative process they use helps them both – student and peer tutor – to deeply learn the ideas or material,” she says.
Writing tutor Megan Rosenthal agrees with this idea, saying that “tutoring has definitely helped my own learning. I am a strong believer in the idea that if you can successfully teach someone else something, then you fully understand the topic.” Megan is able to bring her skill set as a Creative Writing major and Professional Writing and Rhetoric minor over into her tutoring sessions. She says being immersed in language and structure through her classes has proven to be extremely helpful when it comes to being a writing tutor, and that helping others with their papers has given her confidence in her own writing abilities.
Joi Pride, a Spanish subject tutor, feels similarly when it comes to her education within her major guiding her tutoring abilities. Her time spent abroad as a Queens student has “opened [her] eyes a bit more to even more variations of speech as far as accents go, and … how people structure sentences and what words they choose to explain certain things,” and has helped her tutees become more interested in studying abroad. The benefits of her tutoring sessions go both ways as well, as Joi feels tutoring has helped her to form better questions to ask in her own Spanish classes, and has enabled her to solidify her foundation when it comes to basic grammar rules.
The Center for Student Success provides tutors with the training to succeed in numerous ways. Professor Daniel stresses that “training is vital because tutoring is not about just giving answers,” and says that training is focused on subject areas such as brain-based learning, cultural humility, critical thinking, and goal setting. Writing tutors specifically take a course through Queens called “English Practicum in Composition Theory,” or what is better known as ENG 207. This course gives the students that take it a solid foundation in writing center and composition pedagogies. Both subject and writing tutors are prepared in every way possible to help the greater student body that comes to the center for help.
These tutoring services are important to the general student body in that they allow the peer tutors within the Center for Student Success to be present with other students, and Professor Daniel says that “whether it’s just to acknowledge that this work we call learning is tough,” or “to remind us that we can when we feel like giving up,” tutors have been there – and fully understand what their peers need and are going through. Students within the College of Arts and Sciences like Joi and Megan are contributing their experiences within their majors to greater university programs such as the tutoring services within the Center for Student Success – not only helping others to thrive academically, but learning to thrive themselves!
CAS Success Blog 