Although technology has advanced incredibly since when our parents and grandparents were kids, most of my teachers preferred an old school whiteboard and homework assignments to be written in pen or pencil. When we were told we wouldn’t be returning to school for the remainder of the year, I was nervous for multiple reasons.
Firstly, would my teachers be able to navigate the online world and teach me as they did in class? Or was school about to become a joke?
Secondly, would I be able to learn the same and keep my grades up? People always talk about auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learning, but I never needed to put much thought into it because I was doing well in school. Now, I had the fear that my grades would drop because I don’t learn as well virtually.
As a straight-A and AP student, I knew I must not be alone in my feelings. I knew there were people feeling the same, if not worse, about the switch to online learning. That is how Free Quarantine Tutoring began.
Our website was created with a question forum, in which all you have to do is make an account and ask your question. We answer not only math and science problems, but also how to convert documents to the correct format, how to view messages on online learning platforms such as Canvas, and more. The current tutors have 1 or 2 days a week that they are online, either from 9 am-2 pm or 2 pm-7 pm. During that time, we monitor the website for any questions and answer them to the best of our ability.
So far we have had amazing feedback we were featured twice on NBC 6, and have received multiple offers from schools such as American Heritage offering to help supply us with more tutors.
The best part about the website for me is the satisfaction of knowing I helped someone. These students come online to ask for help and feel totally lost, and when they leave the website they are confident and not only leaving with an answer but actually understanding why that answer is the correct one. The amount of sweet “thank you’s” I’ve received are so heartwarming, and that’s why we all continue tutoring. It’s really nice to know that I was able to impact my community and help people during this crisis. As kids, it’s hard to feel like we can make a difference in the world. There have been plenty of times where I felt like I had no say and no voice. Free Quarantine Tutoring has given me my voice, something to feel proud of, proof, that kids can actually make a difference.
And no matter how small that difference is, it’s changing someone’s life for the better, and that’s all that matters to me.