Putting the “U” and “I” in “Tutoring”
Written by Karl Hennen
Flip through most dictionaries, including mental ones, and the word “tutor” should describe instructors distinct from primary teachers assisting other people in intimate settings. For Jessica Akiona, a senior double-majoring in Communication and English at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, tutoring reflects a multidimensional concept transcending classroom experiences beneficial to tutors and tutees alike. Her work is a significant example of applied learning’s ability to broaden personal horizons via direct community involvement.
Across Big Island colleges and summer programs, Akiona has, with tutoring, reaffirmed present successes and future aspirations. She has also grown alongside the students she has taken under her wing.
Originally from Waimea, Akiona began pursuing higher education by attending Hawaii Community College, where she obtained an associates degree in Liberal Arts. She then transferred to UH Hilo for its location and low tuition.
Despite a lengthy commute, Akiona found the campus a convenient, on-island educational resource; the expenses were surmountable compared to moving elsewhere. A psychology major when starting college, she soon noted her essays were graded positively at HCC. She redirected her focus to English, inspired by academic success and a lifelong love of reading.
Akiona added communications as her second major at UH Hilo after taking pre-requisites which piqued her interest and enthusiasm. Around this time, she began tutoring.
Akiona (second from left) with tutees from the Dorrance summer bridge program (Photo credit: Jessica Akiona).
“Prior to coming back to school (UH Hilo) in fall 2012, I was living in Waimea and working up there, but my fall semester required me to be in Hilo five days a week,” Akiona explains about her road to tutoring. “My sister suggested looking at the school’s website. I thought I was qualified in reading-writing tutoring based on my excelling in those subjects. I applied and ended up getting three jobs—as a writing tutor at Kilohana, as reading tutor but more so clerical worker at the Learning Center, and as a writing tutor in the Hawaii Lifestyle Center at —that semester.”
Akiona’s tutoring positions totaled twenty hours of professional work experience a week. Even more surprising than her sudden, necessary balancing act between employment and schooling was Akiona’s immediate opportunity to, in concrete situations, apply her learning.
By helping others with different backgrounds, interests, and learning styles, she could directly observe a relationship involving her understanding of English and instructing the subject as a tutor. Akiona believes such chances to demonstrate her knowledge via tutoring have been among the most rewarding aspects of the profession. Diverse interactions relevantly capturing the real world comprise another benefit.
“Overall, in general, it would be being able to help fellow students, my peers,” contends Akiona on what she enjoys about tutoring. “Even if I excel at writing, I know what it feels like to struggle in other subjects. I understand that and want to help them. To be specific, being a tutor at HCC and the Learning Center, I worked with non-traditional students—for example, some may be older—and you see a different struggle there. By working there, it offered me skills as to how to tutor people of different demographics a lot better because [I had] to change [my] tutoring style to the needs of the student. We (tutors) didn’t get training at either of those centers so you’re on your own and you’re learning as you go. As for the Writing Center, I’ve worked with a lot of the English 100T students during summer programs. I’m familiar with a lot of (English) teachers … so it’s great to work with them. Being a student who has taken 100T, I know what teachers expect and I can help students accordingly.”
Akiona’s opportunities to apply learning from UH Hilo English classes to her tutoring was powerfully exemplified when she participated in two summer bridge programs for incoming pupils. One bridge program, part of the Dorrance Scholarship, featured first-generation college students pursuing undergraduate degrees at UH Hilo. The scholarship was awarded to local high school graduates with requirements including academic standing, test scores, and financial need. Before the fall semester, the customized summer program assisted their transition to UH Hilo.
The second summer bridge program Akiona participated in was the Kupa ‘Āina plan. Formed by Kamehameha Schools’ Extension Educational Services Division, UH Hilo, and the Hawaii Department of Education, the residential program stressed both college readiness and traditional Hawaiian values. Twenty-five students from Keaau High School participated in āina-based applied learning activities. At the program’s conclusion, they received six English and math credits for Hawaii Community College or UH Hilo.
Under professors Julianne White of Arizona State University and Kirsten Møllegaard of UH Hilo for the Dorrance and Kupa ‘Āina programs, respectively, Akiona enjoyed hands-on work with students through her tutoring.
“For both of them (the programs), I looked at essays,” she describes of her tasks. “In particular with Kupa ‘Āina, they (students) had a final research paper and a presentation. Many of them have never presented in their lives and they needed help with the PowerPoints, so that was another aspect I helped with. It was my job in to make sure they’re doing it correctly and on task until it was time to share.”
Sitting in the classrooms of each summer bridge program, Akiona monitored pupils’ learning and provided them with assistance. Under Professor Møllegaard, she also gave two lectures to students—one on proper MLA citations and plagiarism, the other on annotated bibliographies. “With Professor Møllegaard, she wanted me to partake in that—preparing lessons—so I [lectured] two out of the six weeks of class,” Akiona relates. “I really appreciated that because I was able to take on a different role with regards to tutoring and feel like what it was to be a teacher.”
Involvement with the Dorrance and Kupa ‘Āina programs imparted fresh perspectives on tutoring and blooming benefits for Akiona, who is considering a long-term career within education. Akiona highlights how her applied learning experiences over the summer were unique from her past work at HCC and UH Hilo.
“When you work at Kilohana (et al.), you see a lot of regulars every couple weeks,” she asserts. A tutor who is part of the Dorrance and and Kupa ‘Āina programs, even more so than one employed at colleges, has “to learn about [tutees] through their writing and interacting with them. At the end, you’re a peer, tutor, and even a friend.” Akiona posits the programs revealed a novel “dynamic that was really able to show a different side of what tutoring is.”
For Akiona, the benefits of tutoring reflect a continual process of applied learning. She sees her experiences in the summer bridge programs, UH Hilo’s Kilohana and Learning Center, and HCC’s Hawaii Lifestyle Center providing rich insight into her professional aspirations. Akiona encourages individuals to consider becoming tutors for opportunities to learn about their fellow students and themselves. She believes the benefits of tutoring-inspired applied learning number significantly, including preparation for a varied workforce and experiential virtues like patience.
“Professionally, when you work with a diverse student body, you see different personalities—some are hard to work with, some are easy—and you learn to handle each situation appropriately,” explains Akiona. A lot of times students have questions for you that you may not have the answer for. You work with them to find it and ways of explaining things that need to be changed. Not everyone is going to understand what you say the first time, so you find out a new way to say it because the ultimate goal for them is to learn. It’s all about being patient with them, because if you’re frustrated, they’re going to be frustrated, too, and that’s the complete opposite of what we (tutors) aim for.”
As for the best part of the tutoring profession—whether on campus or in programs? Akiona suggests it is the mutually supportive connection between the instructor and tutees, putting the “U” and “I” in “tutoring.”
“You can relate as peers and help each other,” she smiles. “They teach me as much as I help them.”
