Math Tutor Diana Silveyra is part of a community of tutors, teachers and staff that work toward giving students the help they need to overcome their struggles with Math and English.
The community she is part of is called the Accelerated Instruction in Math and English program.
Accelerated instruction are not words that would be a selling point for students trying to pass their Math and English requirement and graduate. However, it is one of the main features for the AIME program.
Head of the AIME Program Frank Mixson explained, “We’re able to move students from Math 60 through their college level Math in two semesters.”
Mixson and a team of people took one year to plan and organize the AIME program and develop pathways for students to follow.
He said in the first semester students have nine weeks of Math 60 and if they fulfill the program’s requirements they move on to nine weeks of Math 80, by spring semester, they enroll in their choice of math 112 or 114.
One path way to follow would be to start fall 2016 semester in Math 60 and after nine weeks if you complete the course requirements you have a guaranteed seat in Math 80 for the remaining nine weeks and a seat in a higher level math in the spring.
Student Success Center Administrative Clerk III Yvette Juarez explained that students in the program have a contract they agree with spending there hours a week in structured tutoring sessions.
Juarez said, “[At the center] we monitor how many hours the students spend in tutoring each week.”
The Student Success Center also provides other resources like the use of computers to access to programs like My Math Lab, My Foundations Lab, and workshops with Math and English topics.
Students can choose to attend a workshop instead of going to tutors.
Tutors like Silveyra who said, “We all got training as far as how to conduct the AIME structured study sessions [….] we like to see the look on a students face when they finally understand a Math problem [that was difficult].”
AIME Enhancement Center Coordinator Kolleen Kalt explained that the English component of the program is taking English 72 in the fall for 18 weeks and have a guaranteed spot to take English 100 in the spring.
Students who are taking both the English and Math AIME classes have to complete six hours of tutoring per week.
Mixson said students can take both Math and English at the same time.
If they have the time “I would encourage them to do it and get that stuff [ math and English] out of the way.”
He said, “I like to see that students [understand] ‘if I get in there and do my homework I can be successful in math it’s disciplining myself’ that’s what our program is trying to do teach them [the students] the behaviors of good students that’s what the three hours requirement is about.”
