MATH AND WRITING LAB AVAILABLE

Suhjin Yoon

Highland Academy opens a math lab and writing lab for the first time to assist students with their writing skills and mathematics understanding. The labs have been operating just one school year, 2023-2024 with much success. The labs were opened because of the increased enrollment and because of the additional classes teachers took on to accommodate the growing student body.

Have you ever heard someone say they are English and history-brained or math and sciencebrained? People often possess a natural tendency to lean one way or the other. They have a better propensity for one type of material in school than another. Some even find it difficult to keep up with the subject matter that is not their natural talent or skill, and getting help with the gap can be beneficial. This is precisely why Highland Academy chose to provide a math lab and a writing lab this school year for students. The labs provide writing and math tutors throughout school hours to help students overcome academic challenges. The math lab is sponsored by Mrs. Lily Lopez, one of the math teachers on campus. The math lab is located in her office where Fernando Montez, a senior student, and Adriel Garcia, a junior student, alternate hours to provide maximized aid even when Mrs. Lopez is unavailable or teaching a class. The writing lab is sponsored by Mrs. Melissa Weisner, the school’s guidance counselor and the freshman and sophomore English teacher. The writing lab tutors are Aurora Gomez, a junior, Maddie Schmidt, a senior, and Brooklyn Wishard, a senior. They, too, alternate hours for maximum coverage during school hours. Mrs. Lopez, who teaches geometry and senior math, said that the math lab’s purpose is to multiply the effort of the math teachers. It was created when the school’s enrollment increased, and math teachers were overwhelmed by the number of students who needed extra assistance simultaneously. The math lab has employed handpicked students who excel in communication and math skills to work one on one with students who need extra time and attention and to offer more available hours than math teachers alone can provide. Not only is this highly beneficial for students receiving help, but this also helps the tutors themselves. Working in the math lab provides a valuable skill set for the student instructors to acquire since they interact with various students and build experience in teaching. This type of interaction where student workers get to serve other students in this way makes their jobs more meaningful in contrast to simply grading papers as done in previous years.

Mrs. Lopez views the math lab as an obligation as a teacher. She said, “I feel like it’s part of the service. It’s not optional, as a teacher, as a school. People learn from different explanations.” The idea that this is not an optional service shows students that they have the right to learn at school, and to truly be educators, the school must provide a supplement in areas where students struggle. This is why the math lab heavily emphasizes the importance of using many tactics and approaches, as everyone learns differently. Mrs. Lopez sees the significance of the work through students who utilize this opportunity by taking advantage of available help and using it to build their confidence and skills in math. Reaching out for aid and holding oneself accountable for catching up with missing work also creates self-discipline. If improvisations CONT pg.7