Submitted by Karen Stafford, Washington, Missouri

Idea posted October 9, 2002

I've ended up with quite a few new students at my two schools, so I came up with the idea of having "tooter tutors." If a student passes his/her white belt (at the beginning), he or she can choose to work with another student who's new or behind in another part of the room while the rest of us have class. Since it's usually the responsible kids who get the first belts, this works out great. They're not bored with me working on something they've already tackled, they feel a sense of importance, and the student who gets behind gets some much needed attention without feeling frustrated.

I plan to implement this as some of my brighter kids progress quickly through two-three levels faster than the average kids, then they can work with the kids still struggling for the white.