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K-State Today

April 22, 2015

Totally Tutoring honors four tutors for excellent peer teaching

Submitted by Ora McIntosh

At the April 19 Totally Tutoring event, Patrick Riggin, Zacharia Bishop and Caitlyn Vohs were presented the Tutors Make a Difference Award, and Benjamin Nye received an honorary mention for outstanding tutoring services.

The award is sponsored by Totally Tutoring, an informal assembly of K-State tutoring groups. The award shows tutors that faculty, staff and their tutees appreciate all the hard work they do. In order to be the recipient of this award, tutors may self-apply, or tutees, co-workers or supervisors may nominate a tutor for their excellent service. Award winners are chosen by a student committee that is run by tutors and supervised by an administrative member of the Totally Tutoring community.

Receiving first place, Riggin, a tutor from Leasure Hall and a political science and French major, dedicates a significant amount of his time to tutoring French in a fun, friendly and laid-back manner.

In second place is Bishop, a computer engineering major. He tutors for Educational Supportive Services, where he assists students in better understanding math and physics by being dependable and understanding of their diverse situations.

In third place is Vohs, a civil engineering major who tutors in the Writing Center. She brings a new perspective to the tutoring location through her knowledge of occupational therapy designation and technical writing.

Nye, a tutor majoring in civil engineering, received an honorary mention. Nye tutors through Educational Supportive Services, and his dedication in aiding his tutees with their math and physics work, despite his own busy course schedule, was not lost on the Totally Tutoring Committee.

The awards were announced at the spring 2015 tutoring workshop, sponsored by Academic Excellence funds and a Tilford Incentive Grant awarded to Shay Dodson and Kara Northway. Conducted each semester with support from the offices of the president and provost and other units on campus, these workshops are designed to bring together tutors from different centers on campus and give them a place to maintain and further develop their tutoring skills. The workshops improve tutors' skills and knowledge so they will be able to provide excellent tutoring services to those in need.

Previous workshops have included discussions and lectures on the pedagogy of tutoring, successful tutoring practices, maintaining students' interests during tutoring sessions, and even how to be more aware and sensitive of each student's personal and academic backgrounds. This semester, Totally Tutoring's workshop featured a talk from Sue Mendelsohn from Columbia University, "How to Change the World: One Tutorial at a Time."

A big round of applause and thank you is further awarded to these exceptional tutors.

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