Community Service

Dakota State University

Jade Botello

For community service, I tutored a young girl in high school. I mainly tutored this young girl in her

chemistry class. I had made a social media announcement that I was looking for students to tutor to

fulfill my community service hours, and her mother had reached out, letting me know that she needed

to pass this class in order to play golf. The student didn’t always struggle in chemistry, however she fell

behind and was unable to get caught back up. Upon meeting the student, I was able to look over her

chemistry grade review. From looking at that grade review, I was able to determine what assignments

were missing, and which assignments should be completed first. We began to talk about a tutoring

schedule. The common Monday through Friday week was extremely busy for the both of us, so we

decided that it would be best to meet during the weekends, and if need be during Christmas break. This

schedule worked best for us. This student had a 504 plan put in place, so some of these assignments

were able to be modified and or accommodated per her 504 plan. We began from the very beginning,

dating with assignments that were missing from November. Due to the fact that this student had a 504

plan put in place, this allowed her extended completion times on her assignments. She was also able to

do every other question on chapter reviews, and on chapter tests. We started from chapter six, which

consisted of gas laws. It was challenging at first, because chemistry isn’t necessarily my forte and it had

been numerous years since I looked at a high school chemistry book. However, despite the struggles in

the beginning, we were able to power through and get her caught up to speed and she passed her class.

The modifications and accommodations really helped her be able to complete the assignments in a

timely manner. While tutoring this young lady, I got the chance to know who she is, the story behind as

to why she fell behind and why she was placed on a 504 plan. Taking the time to get to really know her,
solidified the importance behind establishing relationships with your students. There were often times

where we had spent more time getting to know one another, than we spent on completing her

chemistry homework and that was perfectly okay with me. This experience tutoring this young lady

relates to my growth as an educator, because it gave me first hand insight as to how much relationships

matter to students. There were often times where her mother and grandmother would reach out to me,

and tell me that she was only willing to work on her chemistry, if she was working on it with me. It

allowed me firsthand exposure to accommodations and modifications that were put in place within the

assignments because of her 504 plan. This gave me insight as to what I will be working with in the very

near future, because I plan to be a special education teacher, and while 504 plans differ from IEPS,

accommodations and modifications pertain to both. This allowed me to understand that there is more

than what meets the eyes when it comes to students, and it was a constant reminder that there are

times where we as educators need to meet the students where they are. I have read time, and time

again that building relationships is one of the things you need to do to create a safe productive learning

environment for your students. I knew the importance of it, but to actually see it play out in person

was/is beautiful.