Tutoring students throughout these past few weeks has allowed me to develop friendships with a few of the students. Along with this, it has allowed me to see improvement of their skills, enough that some no longer need extensive help with old concepts. I believe the age difference between myself and the students makes it easier to talk with the students and explain information in a way that works for them. While new concepts will be challenging as they come throughout the year, I think it allows volunteers to know that their help is useful when the students can use the help you have given. Also, not all students learn the same way, so sometimes it can take a few different explanations to figure out how to present information in a way that works. For instance, within a multiplication table, I helped a student to identify patterns and tricks to remember the multiplicative factors.
I have noticed that many of the teachers that stay after school to help with the program have unique relationships with almost all of the students. They are very comfortable and talk as if they were friends, rather than only a teacher-student relationship. This is quite different from what I experienced as a younger student but did relate to when I was in high school. At this point, some teachers do become friends with students and develop unique relationships outside of the classroom.
Overall, these first few weeks at BJM have allowed me to become a better volunteer and tutor.