Gary Vickery began as a mentor at Lee Elementary in the Communities In Schools of North Texas Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) program in January.
He was initially paired with a fourth grade student, but after two weeks of meeting with his mentee, the student moved to a different school.
Gary still expressed interest in mentoring and asked to be paired with another student. After some brainstorming with the ACE teachers and Adrienne Ahr, the ACE Behavior Intervention Specialist, we decided to pair him with a second grader named Hector, who has struggled with making good choices in the classroom and following through when given instructions. Hector also struggled with math but seemed to excel when someone sat down with him and assisted him.
Gary, who is a civil engineer, started to meet with Hector on Monday’s in order to help him be successful with his math homework. Gary realized that the method Hector was using to solve his math homework was very different from the way he was taught. The roles started to reverse when Hector began teaching Gary how to solve these math problems using the new method.
Hector’s ACE teacher was also practicing math with his class in order to help them improve their fundamentals in addition and subtraction. Gary voiced that Hector seemed to be improving in his understanding and that he himself was also learning Hector’s methods and felt he could better teach him in their mentoring sessions. Gary also made math fun for Hector by incorporating it with basketball or other sports games.
We’re so grateful for the influence of individuals in our community who volunteer their time to help students have a positive role model. I can see a change in Hector’s academics since he’s been working with Gary. We look forward to see how his behavior will improve by having a mentor work with him consistently.
