More than a Classroom

Migrant Tutoring Program Proves to be a Powerful Experience for All

By Courtney D. Wolfe '12

A classroom on the lower level of Wilson’s Warfield Hall has become a wellspring for life-changing moments: a fourth-grade boy recently decided to “give up the ‘hood” to become a scientist; a fifth-grader confessed that life in prison would be the easiest option for his future; one Wilson student found her inner teacher; and another became an activist for equality and social justice.

The impact of the Migrant Education Tutoring Program at Wilson transcends typical classroom learning. Students and tutors alike learn from each other, confront their fears and prejudices, discover who they are and prepare for the future.

For close to 20 years, the Lincoln Intermediate Unit’s migrant children tutoring program has provided supplemental educational services to the children of migrant workers in Franklin County. Families qualify for migrant educational services when they move across a school district boundary for seasonal agricultural work within a 36-month window. “Anyone can be migrant,” explained Eric Mandell, student support specialist from the Franklin County LIU Field Office in Chambersburg. “[It’s] not someone who speaks a second language or has a different shade of skin, or someone with less money—it’s the employment of the parents that qualifies [them for the program].”  

Prior to moving to Wilson in 2011, the program was hosted by the First United Methodist Church in Chambersburg. As the size of the program grew with an influx of mostly Latino migrant families into Franklin County, the church was unable to continue providing space. The decision was made to relocate the program and Mandell went scouting for a new community partner.

Wilson wasn’t a new name for Mandell. For years, Wilson students had been helping with LIU programs and both organizations were part of Pennsylvania’s statewide early literacy program, One Book, Every Young Child. In 2011, Wilson hosted a One Book event in Sarah’s Coffeehouse, coordinated by Associate Professor of Education Lynn Newman. Mandell, a never-ceasing advocate for his program, immediately recognized a fortuitous opportunity and contacted Newman to discuss establishing the program at Wilson.

“Seeing her students as teachers, watching them apply what they’d learned in the classroom and apply it to a unique program that was a one-day [event]—it worked,” he recalled.

A New Lens

Newman wholeheartedly embraced the idea and worked quickly to put things in motion. In March 2011, the program began in the Brooks Science Center. Today, the program operates out of Warfield Hall, using four classrooms, with trips to the computer lab. “The move to Warfield allowed us to divide the kids up by grade,” Newman said. “And it provided additional space for growth.”

The after-school program meets at Wilson every Tuesday and Thursday for one hour during the academic year. Wilson students provide tutoring in reading, writing and math, but Newman wants more to blossom during that hour. “This year especially, we are focusing on students being more like mentors than tutors,” she said. “We want our students talking with the children in the program and building relationships. And we can do that within the structure because talking is literacy. Talking to the students is teaching English and grammar.”

Funding for the program comes from state and federal grants and is in part based on the number of families enrolled in the program. Recent funding reductions have resulted in cuts to the program. “We used to meet four days a week, for a total of four hours,” Mandell said. Additionally, funding for after-school tutoring services beyond elementary school has been completely eliminated. For this reason, Newman wants the sessions for the young students at Wilson to be engaging and memorable. “They’ve been on a college campus and can maybe now see themselves as a college student,” she said.

Wilson’s location allows it to offer these students a unique opportunity. According to the National Farm Workers Ministry, the majority of migrant workers live in rural areas where agricultural jobs are located, which means that most children of migrant families rarely get the chance to see a college campus, let alone work in a college classroom. “By being on campus these kids see that they have opportunities,” Mandell said. “It helps to challenge their perspective—it’s a new lens to see life through.”

Done with the ’Hood

For some children in the program, this new lens can be a game changer. Wilson student and migrant tutoring program coordinator Krista Dewald ’16 talks about the stresses some of the children in the program deal with. “These kids carry heavy, heavy burdens,” she said. “Some have a brother back in Mexico that they miss and want in the program with them. Some don’t know where their next meal is going to come from.” Establishing trust between tutors and students can provide solid footing when confronting some of the emotional hurdles the children face.

One of those hurdles is bullying. Students in the program are often the victim of racial bullying at school, which often leads to built-up frustration that can erupt during tutoring hours. Dewald was initially taken aback by the vulgarity of the epithets the children were using, and the ease with which they used them. “My upbringing was sheltered,” Dewald said. “I knew it [racial bullying] existed and was bad, but I didn’t know how bad. It wasn’t my life.”

When conflicts arise, Mandell and the tutors engage in what Dewald calls “real conversations” about how powerful the language the students are using can be, and how to work toward stopping the cycle of prejudice and building acceptance and compassion among the students.

And the conversations seem to work. Earlier this year, after an intense deconstruction of a bullying situation, one student declared to Dewald that he was “done with the ’hood” and is going to be a scientist. “It’s about so much more than getting your homework done,” Dewald said. “It’s about creating a sense of empathy and compassion in them—and making them proud to be here.”

A Different Kind of Classroom

Invoking a sense of pride about being in the program can help build pride in the students, which can alter a child’s outlook for the future. Earlier this year, Dewald noticed a marked change in the behavior of one of the fifth-graders. A model student in previous years, he began acting out and became disengaged from the program. After months of trying to talk with him and getting shut out, Dewald was shocked when the breakthrough finally came. “I didn’t want to tell you because you’ll try to fix it,” he said, “but I’m going to jail. It’s safer.”

Often living at or below the poverty level, most migrant families tend to live in high-crime neighborhoods where children may become socialized to expect a future of limited opportunities. Mandell hopes that the time on campus resonates with the students and expands their idea of what the future can hold. The tutoring program also helps bridge cultural gaps in education. American classrooms are much stricter than those that many of the migrant students are used to, according to Dewald.
Students who began elementary school in Latin American countries have memories of classrooms with less emphasis on sustained silent reading or sitting still for long periods. They are also accustomed to teachers who hug. “Can you imagine coming from that type of environment, where it’s OK to hug your teacher, to our standards?” Dewald asked.

The program at Wilson combines both educational lessons and the freedom to move around the classroom and encourages students to be creative with their learning through games and group activities. The program also encourages tutors to give high-fives for accomplishments. While the atmosphere provides a familiar and comfortable space for the students, Dewald admits that the seemingly chaotic rhythm isn’t for everyone. “It can be loud,” she laughed. “We’ve had feedback from tutors in the past that it’s too overwhelming.” But for Mandell, it’s all about creating an environment where the kids have fun learning.

College faculty and staff also are invited to participate in the program as tutors and in the curriculum by sponsoring a Wilson Experience Day. In the past, the students have participated in science experiments with faculty and students from the life and environmental sciences departments, and have learned about sustainability, safe food handling and Earth Day from the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living. The after-school program provides a different classroom, according to Mandell. “They do fun-filled experiments, they can wear lab coats. It’s a completely different experience than what they get in a brick-and-mortar school building.”

Building Leaders, Building Community

The after-school program provides additional learning opportunities for Wilson students in the form of experiential learning. “They’re taking the knowledge they’ve just learned in a Wilson class and they come to us as experts,” Mandell said.

Work-study coordinator for the program and early child-hood education major Stephanie O’Neal ’16 has experienced this firsthand.

Earlier this academic year, O’Neal began questioning if teaching was the right career path for her. She had her “ah-ha” moment this spring in a pedagogy course, as she was introduced to an instructional method different from anything she had seen before. “I was really excited by what [the professor] was showing us,” she said.
 
O’Neal had the opportunity to try the approach herself while working with a group of students in the program. “I was teaching them,” she said. “I became a teacher.”  
O’Neal has not only found her inner teacher through the program, but her inner leader as well. She is the program’s volunteer coordinator for this academic year and admits that before getting involved with the program, stepping outside of her comfort zone was not one of her strengths. But when Dewald, the program’s veteran coordinator, departed early in the semester to study abroad, O’Neal found herself thrust into a leadership role.

Dewald’s absence forced O’Neal to assume more responsibility for the day-to-day coordination of the program, and to plan ahead and be proactive in her communication with Newman, Mandell and the other tutors—all lessons that O’Neal recognizes as invaluable in her chosen field. “You can’t go through life comfortable,” she said. “You have to step out to achieve.”  O’Neal believes this part of the program has had the greatest impact on her and Newman agrees. “She’s really grown this last semester,” Newman said of O’Neal. “I’m so proud of her.”

Experiential learning isn’t the only draw for the after-school tutoring program. Service learning can also help to define a student’s future, and the program has done that for Dewald.

Her relationship with the LIU’s migrant education program doesn’t end with Thursday tutoring; she also volunteers to help with Saturday reading programs and the summer literacy program. And about a year ago she began accompanying Mandell on home visits to families in the program. Meeting with the parents, understanding their worries and concerns for their children and helping them find the answers they need is, for Dewald, part of building a community. It was through these visits that Dewald gained a deeper understanding of the struggles migrant families face.

“Some of our families aren’t English as a Second Language,” she said. “Some speak an indigenous language, primarily, a little Spanish and no English.” Indigenous languages and regional dialects are staggering in number and cannot always be addressed in publications and materials given to migrant families, who, according to Dewald, may not have the proficiency necessary to read materials provided in Spanish. Dewald works to translate the information. “It’s not always easy,” she said. “We end up drawing pictures and acting things out to get it done, but we get it done.”

The advocacy and community-building aspects of the tutoring program resonate most with Dewald. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in international development or international education, with a focus on community building. She envisions a life working in developing countries, helping to build communities. For Dewald, the answer always comes back to community.

Frustrated by biases that surround migrant families, Dewald defends programs like the LIU Migrant Education Program. “It’s so easy to dehumanize,” she said. “If you’ve never been around [migrant families] … it’s so easy to dehumanize someone.” Dewald emphasized that the education is reciprocal—by volunteering with the program, interacting with the children of migrant families and listening to their stories, volunteers learn about the struggles of migrant life and learn empathy and compassion for others.

“Education,” she said, “is a powerful agent for change.”