80099: English 20 College Composition
80490: English 5M Accelerated Academic Literacy

Embedded Content Tutor, Pathway to Equity, Interactive Activity in Classroom

Reflection on the implementation of embedded content tutor support in my courses:

I selected having two embedded tutors in two of my courses: English 5M and English 20. These tutors were my previous students who passed the course successfully and knew how my courses were organized and what the expectations of the assignments were. At the beginning of the semester, the students were informed that the course has many resources for them to succeed in the course and one of the useful resources was having a tutor in class who had successfully passed the course and was willing to share the tips and help them through the process. Usually, some students do not go to the writing center to get help from tutors and the people who can help them when they are in the stages of writing, or they are intimidated to go to the teachers and seek help, so bringing a tutor into the classroom can create more opportunities for asking help and being active in the class activities, go through the writing process, and finish the tasks. Also, the students can feel supportive. They see how the class as a community can help them grow and go through different stages of writing and construct a text based on the course requirements and their discipline. Thus, my tutors in both classes helped students in different ways, such as helping them through in-class activities by going around the class and monitoring their work, sending them emails and inviting them to their office hours, and holding workshops when a paper was due by reviewing the paper requirement.

Reading from Culturally Responsive Teaching & Brain by Zaretta Hammond helped with my rationale for creating these activities. Chapter three of this book helped me to see how our brain works and how it influences our social and emotional state. I learned how I should create my class environment so that my students become more comfortable and how my actions can physically affect their brains. This chapter was mostly based on science, and it explained that the "Brains' two prime directives are to stay safe and be happy" ( Hammond, p.46). so if my class is welcoming for them and creates a safe environment for them to start their work and get support, they can finish their job more confidently. Also, in Chapter 6, Hammond explains how constant and regular feedback can cause the brain to "rewire itself and grow by generating more dendrites and laying down more myelin" ( Hammond, p. 101). Therefore, if students get immediate feedback in class from my tutor and me, their mind starts to change and they start to grow. In general, having a tutor in class increases building rapport, trust, and caring.

Reading Form Teach Students How to Learn also helped me to build my rationale. These are some techniques that we can read in the book :

Metacognition Strategy – Asking students to think about their thinking. My students should write a journal.
Increasing intrinsic motivation- They do what they like to do, and they choose what they like to choose.
Increasing interactive activity in the classroom. ( Having a workshop and getting immediate feedback or check-in with the help of a tutor.
Providing examples and samples for the activity to make the expectations of the project clear.
Having a workshop creates this opportunity for the students to feel that we are all together and we are in the process of creating our product. Having me and the tutor around shows that they are not alone. We are here to help them in a supportive environment.
Proving to them that writing and reflecting are enjoyable by showing them our positive and encouraging attitude.

To increase student engagement, I created many in-class activities and various workshops that help students actively follow the course, write the projects, and finish their tasks in class. Some students think writing a paper or doing homework is hard since they do not know how to start, they do not have time enough time outside the classroom to finish their tasks, do not have enough support to understand the process, or they do not know what sources are available to them. Thus, I created writing projects with different choices in which students could choose what they liked to write about and care about, and this increased their intrinsic motivation. Also, it brought more equity to the classroom since the students could choose the right shoes for themselves instead of giving them the same shoes that they do not like or it does not fit them. In addition, most of the writing process and workshops were happening in the classroom, and students could get direct help from my tutor and me which created a good path to having an equitable classroom since some students could not start writing and could not focus on the task when they are alone, so having an embedded tutor in class can be very helpful because it provides them with student-to-student support. I think this is very important because the students can hear advice, tips, or techniques from a student who is like them instead of hearing them from their teacher.

Reflection on My Cultural Awareness

Cultural Tree- Parisa Samadi.

This screenshot presents three levels of my culture that are based on Hammond's book in chapter 2, pages 22-23. These three levels are :
My Surface culture represents me as an immigrant with Farsi being my first language. Also, colorful and variety of dishes as my surface culture. Regarding my shallow culture, the screenshot shows how I communicate with others and build rapport and trust in my community. How the elderly are important and how I try to cooperate with my community members. In the deep culture section, I have shown that humanity has a high value in my culture and it always values hard work, being flexible, being loyal, and caring about others.
Going through the process of this tree made me reflect on who I am and why I act and perform in my community the way I do now. In addition, as a teacher, I became more aware of my students' culture and became better observant and not biased based on only what I see or hear. In addition, when I share this cultural tree with my students, they can reflect on their own culture to discover their own identity and find who they are.

The Evidence of My Claim for this PLC
Chapter 8 of Teach Students How to Learn by Sandra Yancy McGuire explains a variety of strategies that help boost motivation, positive emotions, and learning. 1- Allow students to choose a paper, project, or discussion topic ( page 84). Most of my class writing projects follow this strategy, and the students pick what they like. Also, this brings equity to the classroom. 2- Give clear expectations and provide early opportunities for success ( page 86). When we have workshops in class and go step by step through the writing process, the students have a clear expectation of the project, and when the tutor and I are circling and monitoring students, they completely understand what they should do to succeed. 3- Enhance the sense of belonging ( page 89). This is very important in the student's success since the students feel the community is safe and they have this opportunity to elevate their knowledge and skills with the help of a person who has been successful before, with the help of other classmates and the teacher. They feel that "We're all in this together," so they belong to the community.	Zaretta Hammond's book was very helpful to me because based on science, it explains why we should create a supportive environment for our students. Chapter 3 of this book amazingly explains how culture programs our brains and how we unconsciously go into "fight," "flight," or "freeze" mode when we encounter with threat of public humiliation because our "brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others in community"( page 47). Thus, if we create a friendly, safe, happy, and supportive environment in our classroom, the brains of our students do not go into the freezing mode and their amygdala does not stay on alert. In this situation, students start to focus on the taught materials and engage with the activities. When we have an embedded tutor in class who is willing to help students, they feel safe and their brain releases oxytocin to encourage bonding with others, and the process of oxytocin puts the safety threat detection system in the amygdala on pause ( page 46).

Moving Forward

The first benefit of peer-to-peer education in my course is that the students feel more supportive in class.
The second benefit of peer-to-peer education in my course is that the students notice that there are some resources available for them on Campus and they know where to seek help when they need help for their papers.
The number of students who went to tutoring sessions was higher than in my previous semester.

I am planning to continue with PARC to get an embedded tutor or SI leader for my writing courses in my future courses.

**Faculty Bio**
	Hi! My name is Parisa Samadi, and I am a lecturer in the English Department teaching composition courses. I love my job, and I believe I learn more from my students than they learn from me.

Funding Information
	The Peer and Academic Resource Center (PARC) in partnership with The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) The Division of Inclusive Excellence (IE) This work was supported by: CSU Office of the Chancellor Academic Affairs grant for Faculty Professional Development