Cultivating Collaboration: The Teachers Behind Portola’s Peer Tutoring Program

Kayley Winata and Dania Yamani

Peer tutoring adviser and math teacher Ran Gu supervises the program in the Learning Commons. “It is very interesting to see how students interact with other students,” Gu said. You’re rarely ever put into a position where you have to explain something. As a teacher myself, I found that I learned a lot in trying to teach someone else, and I enjoy coaching students how to teach other students.”

With many changes to the peer tutoring program in the past year, such as the relocation to the Learning Commons, new teacher advisers and signing-in processes, the peer tutoring staff has been hard at work.

As both an avenue for supporting students’ academic learning and allowing them to build empathy with one another, counselor Melissa Gibson founded the program when Portola High first opened.

“When students get help from outside tutors, they don’t understand the curriculum and what’s being taught in the classroom,” Gibson said. “So having students that have actually been in the class or know the teachers and the policies in place would be beneficial to help students.”

Due to its success, peer tutoring has now expanded to having four additional teacher advisers, each with a different specialty: math and computer science teacher Ran Gu, science teacher Annmarie Ngo, social studies teachers James Ferrel and Veronica Grammier, according to Gibson. These teachers help coordinate peer tutors with their students and monitor them during tutoring. With all the new changes to the program, the teacher advisers believe more students should take advantage of this opportunity to better their learning, according to Gu.

“I learned [quadratics] 15 years ago, and I don’t remember how I felt when I learned this, but that peer tutor you’re talking to right now that’s helping you learned it last year,” Gu said. “They remember exactly the confusion they had, and they will try to anticipate that for you. They can tailor your experience in a way that we might not be able to.”

As teachers themselves, the peer tutoring staff recognize that the program’s benefits extend from receiving extra help to serving as a place to learn communication skills and build new friendships.

“I feel like teaching in general is a really important skill to have, but also when you’re explaining it, you start to realize how much you know it,” Ngo said. “ I think it’s also really cool to see the communication skills that they grow. They probably are ending up peer tutoring someone that maybe they would have never had a class with, or maybe they’re someone that they wouldn’t have been friends with in the first place. It’s cool to see different students getting together and working together that maybe have never met before.”

Donate to Portola Pilot

$200

$500

Contributed

Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of Portola High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

About the Contributors

Kayley Winata, Centerspread Editor

Kayley Winata is the Centerspread Editor for her second year on the Portola Pilot. During Pilot, you can find her sipping her matcha latte (that she woke up early to make) or plotting her next cafe adventure with Nina. In her spare time, you can find her mindlessly scrolling on Pinterest, baking her heart out or listening to Faye Webster and Luna Li on repeat on Spotify. She is so excited to create cute centerspreads and work with everyone on Pilot this year!

Dania Yamani, Staff Writer

Dania Yamani is a staff writer for her first year on the Portola Pilot. When she's not calculating worst-case scenario grades on Aeries before a test, you can find Dania blasting Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams or waking up at 4:00 a.m. to catch a Real Madrid game. She can’t wait to learn about journalism and get more involved with the Portola High community!