Tifton Gazette

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July 26, 2012

School mobile takes tutoring to local students

By Gabi Diaz-Hernandez/The Tifton Gazette CNHI

TIFTON — Rita Ann O'Connor, a New York native raised in Florida, has been offering her tutoring service around South Georgia since the summer of 2009 through Miss Rita's School Mobile.

Her brochure mentions that “Miss Rita’s Tutor Room has been operating in Manatee and Sarasota counties, in Florida, for the past 35 years. She brings to Tifton her teaching talents as Reading Specialist through Miss Rita’s School Mobile...eager to build a strong foundation in the youth who are struggling readers."

Having started with seven students in March 2012, O'Connor is now assisting 20 students, most of whom heard about her services through word of mouth.

O'Connor travels around South Georgia to tutor students in their homes and as of now offers her service in Ocilla, Tifton, Sumner, Sycamore, Sylvester, Ashburn, Chula, Ty Ty and Omega, but has also worked in Adel, Berrien County and Brookfield.

She plans to establish a Tifton office by November across the street from the Board of Education and neighboring Re-bo's Haircuts for Men, at 401 Ridge Ave.

O'Connor's main jobs are in Sarasota, where she works as a substitute and as a tutor for the No Child Left Behind program. She comes to South Georgia whenever she has vacations in Florida, which results in Tifton trips during Thanksgiving holidays, winter holidays, part of March and all of May, June and July. This allows her to tutor throughout the year and to see the students' advances.

Her van carries a variety of items used for creative lessons. For instance, when introducing students to numbers, one of her methods includes matching.

She labels milk-bottles, tops and corks with numbers. Students are expected to place the corks inside the numbered bottles. The bottles are then put in order, which O'Connor times, to encourage students  to get lower times and to have better focus. Another student, who was studying lines, made a straight line out of masticated bubble gum.



O'Connor started her tutoring journey with reading, but now jumps between reading and math. She uses workbooks from the Open Court Reading Program to aid students with their reading skills, which the Institute of Education Sciences describes as a program "designed to systematically teach decoding, comprehension, inquiry and investigation, and writing in a logical progression." Additionally, O'Connor employs the SRA Reading Laboratory. An SRA Lab brochure mentions that the labs match each student's skill level "to color-coded, leveled reading selections. The reading levels gradually increase in complexity and selections gradually increase in word count to keep students challenged as they progress through the program." O'Connor also assigns abundant amounts of homework to expose students to what they will be learning.  



O'Connor showed tremendous joy at her student's progress by citing some of their accomplishments. Her youngest student, a four-year-old, learned the concept of nesting. Initially the student would get frustrated when trying to fit a larger bowl inside a smaller bowl, but he has now developed better spatial cognition to understand this. Her oldest student, a 26-year-old, learned college algebra. A struggling math student had a 48 average in math class, but received a 100 on a math test the day after tutoring. Another student learned to write his name. Lastly, a student who had not made an A on his report card since fifth grade finished eighth grade having made all A's.



Traveling around South Georgia has offered O'Connor new cultural and environmental experiences. She mentions the difference in scenery, transitioning from Floridian “sandy beaches and water that sparkles in the sunshine” to learning what cotton and peanut fields look like. A letter by O'Connor for the Tifton community demonstrated her feelings for the area and was published in the Tifton Gazette in 2009.



"My life has been enriched by the tenderness of Tifton’s courteous community. Drivers let other drivers out of parking spaces and apologize before colliding in the grocery store aisles. Children have the southern manners expressed in the 'Yes Ma’am' and 'No Ma’am.' Why, I got a hair cut and forgot to pay. The police weren’t called. I just went back and paid my bill ... As I stopped on Highway 319 to take pictures, three cars stopped to ask if I had a vehicle problem."

She mentions that while in Florida she sends postcards to her Georgian students, and while in Georgia she sends postcards to her Floridian students. The homemade postcard mailed this year to the Floridian students features a photo taken by O'Connor of a cotton picker that she saw under a car port while traveling from Sylvester to Chula. The postcard jokes that carports in South Georgia don't house boats or RVs…they hold cotton pickers.



This year's learning achievements will culminate with a pool party. Students will have ice cream, drinks and a cake with the school mobile. Approximately 78 people are expected to attend.



The party area will include a bulletin board with individual pictures of every student. In the photo, each student is gazing in a mirror, pointing at herself or himself and mouthing the letter "I." This year's theme was "I can do it," which is the message given by the photographs. Additionally, each student was asked to list three newly acquired skills, allowing students to feel a sense of accomplishment. Students will also receive an image of a turtle wearing a medal. The image will say that " You can do anything if you stick to it long enough."



"The kids are really enjoying it… [they] are so humble and the parents are so appreciative," she said.



To contact O'Connor, one can call 1-877-TEACH-51.

 

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