Jimmy Press

Professor Agusto
UWRT
31 March 2017
Guiding questions
What is the room like?
What information is available?
Does it cost any money?
What do the students do while in the center?
What times is the center available?
What topics are covered?
What info does the website provide?
Is the center busy all the time? Or only at certain times?

Observations
When I began to start my observation, I started when I first set eyes on the center.
The day was 3/20/2017 from 6:30-7:00. The center is located on the 3 rd floor of
fretwell and had sign in big letters that says MATH CENTER. I had questions like,
how would this learning environment look like? or how is this going to be set
up? As I looked on the walls on the outside there was information on the subjects
that they tutored and the times that they were open. As I walked into the center
there was a sign in sheet where you had to put your name, time that you got there,
the time you leave, and the subject that you are in for. As I stood in the walkway, I
paused for a minute to see all the different tables around the room. There were
twelve tables in the shape of a circle with four chairs it. At the moment, there were
three tutors and nine students in the room. There was students working with on the
two three computers they had and students working with their calculators. There
was a group of four working in the center of the room on college algebra, a group of
four in the left backside of the room working on statistics, and a individual working
by himself on pre-calculus in the front left side of the room. I was sitting to a table
by self to the right front side of the room. As the students would raise their hands
the tutors would be walking around to answer any question the had. I saw patterns
from the students saying, Im not sure if I am doing this right, can you help me.
From then the tutor would address the problem the best they can. They would
address saying, you need to this form of intercommunication led the student to
understand what the tutor was saying. Another thing that I saw a student say was,
We usually stop here in class. and then I saw the students face and it was a look
of confusion. I then saw the tutor look at the student and assure him that he could
help. When the group at the college algebra table took a break form their work,
they socialized with each other and said all the things that they love and hate about
their professor. Another situation that I saw was when one of the students from the
statistics table asked a question to the tutor and he could not answer it. I watched
them work at the problem for at least fifteen minutes until the tutor called over
another tutor. They all three were working on the problem now and finally got the
problem correct.

Analysis
The things that I saw most prevalent in this learning center is that when a student
raised their hand for help, there would be a tutor available for them. The tutor
would then communicate with the student and try to help them as best possible.
Through body language the tutor got their point across better than normal. The
tutors were trained very well for their duties because within the 30 minutes I
observed, not but one question went unanswered.

Interview- Jose
1. What are the requirements to become a tutor?
Some of the requirements to be a tutor is to be able to express and know the
subjects of College Algebra, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Calculus 1, Calculus 2,
Linear Algebra, Differential Eqns, and Statistics 1.

2. What personal goals do you for the students?

Jose responded to this question is positive way. He said that his goal was to
that he would do his best to make that every student he teaches feels
comfortable with their work. He said, if the student fails to get the right
answer than I have failed. In his response, I saw a common public goal in his
words for every student to strive for the best.

3. In what ways can students perceive feed back to you?

Jose response was that, one way that I can tell that the is student is
engaging, is through head nods and responses when I ask them a question.
He also said, I can tell if the student is struggling by their facial
expressions. From then he would slow down his explanation process and
make sure the student is up to pace. This is a form of intercommunication
between Jose and the student by his reading the students body gestures
4. Would you consider yourself an expert? Why or why not?

Jose said that he did consider himself for the categories of College Algebra,
Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Linear Algebra, Differential
Eqns, and Statistics 1. He said that these subjects were subjects that he
knows very well and can explain most every problem that is given. Jose is a
 very skilled man that fits the category of an expert for the math community.
With his expertise, he his able to inflict knowledge to people that need it.

5. What is your favorite subject to teach? Why?

Jose responded that his favorite subject to teach was calculus. He then told me
that he liked using the quotient rule, product rule, log functions, limits,
concavity, and chain rule. This showed me all the different type of vocabulary
that was used (lexis) and showed he was skilled at them. Each of the lexis
pertain to the subject of the field calculus.

6. How does one find out about the Center?

Jose said that most of the people that come to the center have found out
about it from their professors and or class mates. He then said that there is
also a website for the center on the UNCC home page. He said that the
center is not advertised and that most people did not know there was a
center. This was shocking to me because this center is something that all
UNCC students should know about.

7. What kind of settings do you see students succeed the best in?
Jose said that he said the tables that students are interacting and asking
each-others questions do the best. He said that the combination between my
help and the students talking through the work with each-other was very
successful. He said that students that sit to themselves and do not interact
with peers get stuck more often and do not comprehend the material as well.
Jose then stated how important how important he thought have a peer to
worked things out with was beneficial. This way the students get information
and feedback to see exactly where they stand with the problem. They will
have support from peers and the tutor.

Problem Imposing questions

When someone comes in with a different subject are they allowed to work?
In this community, it is built upon the subjects of College Algebra, Pre-Calculus,
Calculus, Calculus 1, Calculus 2, Linear Algebra, Differential Eqns, and Statistics 1.
If someone comes in to work on a different math than theses, then they would have
to be asked to leave. Even if the student does not ask for any help and is working
quietly. They have a policy of, if I let one person work outside work, then I have to
let everyone work on outside work. This policy in a way is kicking out the students
that want to learn and better themselves out of the math community. This policy to
me is unfair and students should be allowed to work in the center.
What if the tutor cannot help the question?
Students come to the learning center to get help of their math, if the tutor is unable
to answer the question then nobody is benefiting. The tutors are supposed to be
experts in their field, therefore not answering the question does not do their job.
Every time that this happens, the math community is slowly declining. The odds
are there should be someone in the center to answer most questions, but this does
not happen all the time.