From left to right: Sophomore, Paulette Schmidt and Math Tutor, Caitlyn Gancorz. (image credit: Jenna Douchete)

Does the saying “students learn from teachers and teach­ers learn from students” sound familiar?

For those who work at (or visit) The Learning Center, this quote accurately sums up a similar phenomenon that oc­curs every day during tutoring sessions: students benefit from peer educators (tutors), and peer educators benefit from students.

However, perhaps no tutor­ing session or event symbolizes this give-and-take relationship better than The Learning Cen­ter’s Peer-to-Peer Workshops; these are writing-centric ses­sions that are led by writing tutors instead of professors or faculty members.

“Many students, particu­larly students of a diverse back­ground, are often very shy to ask questions in a classroom setting since English is their second language,” said Hallie Semmel, one of The Learning Center’s lead writing tutors. “I think they feel more comfort­able asking questions with peers in a smaller group setting.”

No matter their background or diversity, all students who attend the sessions will gain more than just the opportunity to listen to informative lectures on popular writing topics like creating thesis statements, for­mulating research papers and discussing essay organization.

They will also have the op­portunity to actively engage in hands-on learning opportuni­ties.

“Those who attend get to complete exercises and work­sheets that we give to ensure that the material being dis­cussed is reinforced, a ben­efit that one doesn’t always get from classroom lectures,” said Semmel.

It’s clear to Selina Marcille, The Learning Center’s Writing Tutoring coordinator, that the benefits of Peer-to-Peer Work­shops translate to peer educa­tors as well.

“I think it is wonderful when our peer educators have the opportunity to help stu­dents with their learning while also becoming more knowl­edgeable on the subjects that are being discussed during the workshops,” said Marcille.

Semmel agreed and added that she feels as though running these workshops allows her and other tutors to become experts on the subject matter being dis­cussed.

“It gives me a chance to brush up on my knowledge [of the subject matter being pre­sented] and improves my com­munication skills when work­ing with others.”

The Peer-to-Peer Work­shop sessions began on Nov. 3 and will take place every Thurs­day through Nov. 17 from 3:30 p.m.-4:45 p.m. in LC 205 in the Edward S. Wolak Library Learning Commons.

The session on Nov. 9 will cover thesis statements, while the Nov.17 workshop will fea­ture a discussion on creating strong research papers.

For more event details, stu­dents can refer to the mySNHU Master Calendar or email Seli­na Marcille at S.Marcille@snhu. edu with questions or inquiries.

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