April has been the boldest month of 2010 at the Hut. To motivate students to finish out the year strong, we have turned up the heat and let loose the competition. Study Hut’s “Student of the Month” award has just been instituted and the first draft winners have been chosen. Our high school winner was one of my most successful students because she has shown such vast improvement in the short amount of time I have tutored her. Paige first came to me with unspeakable grades in her algebra class. At first, I was confused because she understood most of her homework but showed a plethora of poor test grades.

Through talking to her about her thought process, we discovered that she had a mild form of test-taking anxiety. After consulting my boss about an effective approach with Paige, we went to work. She increased her visits from one to three sessions per week with me in order to allot time for timed practice tests. My approach was to do her math problems alongside her and compare our answers instead of watching her do all the work by herself. She worked exceedingly well with my “team” approach because it helped her correct her own mistakes and take control of the session.

After working with Paige for several weeks, I have seen rapid improvement in her comprehension, retention, and esteem. She craves the practice problems because she has seen the positive results for herself. After she brought in her first ‘A,’ I jumped at the chance to nominate her for this award. Since then, she has walked through the door with two more ‘A’ test scores and higher expectations for herself. I look forward to our sessions and when she brings in her tests, I vicariously feel like an ‘A’ student all over again. Students of the month keep this job rewarding and engaging. Keep the good grades rolling!