Kimberly Hummel ’20, shown
here with Women’s Commission
of Allegany County members
following a scholarship
presentation, viewed remote
instruction from multiple angles:
as a mom of two elementary
school students, as a student,
and as someone who had already
spent years in the classroom. She
is an elementary education major
at Frostburg State University.
Spring 2021 \ ACCESS ACM 14
children, sometimes the students
wouldn’t show for scheduled
sessions. Other times, students
encountered problems using the
technology required to complete
their assignments. But even that
presented a learning opportunity for
the tutors.
“Having been in the classroom
with students before, it was hard
because I couldn’t be there beside
my student when something didn’t
work the way she wanted. You had
to help them to calm down and
refocus. When you think about it, all
material is on a screen for students.
That’s a big challenge for someone
this age,” explained Kimberly
Hummel, one of the tutors.
Hummel earned her Associate of
Science in Teacher Education - Early
Childhood Area of Concentration
in December 2020 and is currently
enrolled at Frostburg State
University’s (FSU) Elementary
Education program. Having
worked for several years as an
Instructional Assistant with ACPS,
her perspective was unique. As a
nontraditional student and mother
of two elementary school students,
she viewed remote instruction
from multiple angles: as a mom,
as a student, and as someone
who had already spent years in the
classroom.
Hummel, who is most
comfortable teaching “the littles”
or elementary school children,
tackled all subjects during tutoring
sessions. For the twice-weekly,
two-hour sessions, she livened
up the assignments. It was a
task made easier when matched
with another tutor. “One day we
were subtracting fractions and
our student was having problems
visualizing the problem. I could
use my tutoring partner, Sebastian
Stewart, in the equation. ‘Imagine
if I had five chicken nuggets and
Sebastien stole three of my chicken
nuggets.’ It worked for her because
she could visualize it.”
The key was engagement.
“When you’re in a classroom, you
have your ‘bag of tricks’ at your
disposal. Being online for tutoring
limited that, but there is ALWAYS
a way to connect and engage with
students regardless if that’s virtual
or in person. We took time to talk
about her interests and we’d later
weave those topics into her writing
assignments.”
For Wilson, that’s an important
but frequently underappreciated
aspect of having middle schoolers
tutored by ACM’s Teacher
Education students: the connection
that students feel to tutors who
are often closer to their age than
their teachers. “Our students
continued on page 17
Shawna Layton ’20, shown here on a fall day in 2019 with fellow student
Camden Coleman ’20, is pursuing her secondary education degree at FSU.