{"id":1479,"date":"2026-02-12T13:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:50:24","slug":"mcmurry-education-majors-get-hands-on-experience-tutoring-at-alcorta-elementary-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/2026\/02\/12\/mcmurry-education-majors-get-hands-on-experience-tutoring-at-alcorta-elementary-school\/","title":{"rendered":"McMurry Education Majors get Hands-on Experience tutoring at Alcorta Elementary School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At McMurry, students are given valuable opportunities to grow as future educators. This semester, students enrolled in Professor Melody Roper\u2019s Inclusive Classroom<\/em> course are gaining real-world experience by spending their mornings tutoring students at Alcorta Elementary School. This course is for Junior Education majors, all wanting to teach different subjects from core curriculum classes like Math and History to extracurriculars such as Art and PE. According to the catalog course description, the course is designed to \u201cprepare students for success in today\u2019s diverse and dynamic classroom environments.\u201d Key topics in the course are multiculturalism and diversity in K-12 schools. Students learn about ways to create an inclusive classroom that celebrates different cultures, religions, and holidays.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0The tutoring\u00a0portion\u00a0of the course started when\u00a0she was approached\u00a0about the possibility of her students tutoring at Thomas Elementary, and she thought her course,\u00a0\u201cInclusive Classroom,\u201d would be the perfect fit. At that time, Thomas served as the district\u2019s \u201cNewcomer\u201d campus, welcoming and supporting refugee children from Africa as they transitioned into American classrooms. Her students began tutoring in classrooms across the campus that semester, and the experience proved to be\u00a0highly successful\u00a0for McMurry students, as well as the\u00a0students\u00a0and teachers\u00a0at Thomas\u00a0Elementary.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Due to its positive impact, the program continued until\u00a0Thomas\u00a0Elementary\u00a0closed earlier\u00a0last year.\u00a0Roper\u00a0began searching for another elementary school to partner with and reached out to\u00a0Alfonso Santoya<\/a>,\u00a0an outstanding McMurry graduate who teaches at Alcorta Elementary. He was enthusiastic about the idea, and after meeting with\u00a0Melissa\u00a0Speegle,\u00a0the principal at Alcorta, a new partnership was\u00a0established.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roper shared that this partnership exists because meaningful learning happens through experience. Rather than simply discussing diversity in schools within a college classroom, through this course, McMurry students can observe and engage with it firsthand, which ensures that \u201cMcMurry students gain valuable insight into the realities of today\u2019s schools, while Alcorta students receive additional support in developing their reading and math skills.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a student in Roper’s\u00a0course, and even though we have only been tutoring for a couple of days, I have loved the experience! I hope to teach High School Theatre, so tutoring first graders on syllables and spelling is much different than what I am used to.\u00a0During\u00a0High School, I was a part of a program called,\u00a0\u201cReady, Set,\u00a0Teach!\u201d,\u00a0which gave me experience\u00a0working\u00a0with second graders.\u00a0My experience helped me learn how much patience is needed when working with younger students, which helped set me up for success at Alcorta\u00a0Elementary. The teachers, students, and staff are all so welcoming, and I am so excited to see what the next few weeks bring,\u00a0not only for myself, but\u00a0also\u00a0for my peers also gaining teaching experience.\u00a0I am\u00a0so\u00a0grateful to be\u00a0a part of an educational\u00a0program\u00a0like the one\u00a0at McMurry\u00a0because\u00a0my professors go to great lengths to prepare me to teach in the classroom,\u00a0and\u00a0they\u00a0truly care\u00a0about my future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At McMurry, students are given valuable opportunities to grow as future educators. This semester, students enrolled in Professor Melody Roper\u2019s Inclusive Classroom course are gaining real-world experience by spending their mornings tutoring students at Alcorta […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-47","clearfix"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/evelyn-article-photo.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1486,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.mcm.edu\/herald\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}