A Manhattan High School math teacher recently received a Kansas State University award for working outside of regular classroom hours to help more students understand math.
Jancy Davis hosts an after-hours math tutoring and assistance program for students. She said she assisted about 75 to 80 children last year, both in-person and virtually. This year, she has about 110 students in class each day, in addition to the students she tutors after school. She said a “one size fits all” approach to tutoring or after-hours assistance doesn’t work.
“We don’t all fit into a nice little box, so changing things to be present and serving students what they need when its needed is so important,” Davis said. “Especially with COVID, there are different learning gaps in different places for every student.”
For her extra work, Davis received a $5,000 community service stipend from the K-State College of Education’s inaugural Today’s Teacher program on Oct. 31. Local philanthropists Barb and Lee Harris founded the program, which is modeled after the Tomorrow’s Teacher scholarship program the couple created in 1999. Davis received the Tomorrow’s Teacher four-year scholarship as a K-State undergraduate student in the College of Education.
In a statement, College of Education dean Debbie Mercer said the funding will help Davis expand her community involvement and engagement.
“This was a highly competitive process,” Mercer said. “Your community is being served by an educator who stood out as a scholar and is now a shining star in the profession.”
Davis is one of eight K-State College of Education alumni in Kansas to receive a stipend. This is her seventh year working in the district, and her 17th total as an educator. She told The Mercury some MHS students got sick with COVID-19 over the past year and missed “big chunks” of academic information. She said she’s had some students recently who’ve said they didn’t know some geometry concepts because they were absent during that part of the lesson.
“It’s giving them that opportunity to review and talk about what they’re missing, one on one, to fill in the learning gap so it’s not holding them back anymore,” Davis said. “I think that’s something the district has pushed toward. Personalized learning, giving students what they need, when they need it, in the amount they need, making learning more individual-friendly.”
Davis said a lot of parents don’t know how to help their children with high school math, or don’t have time after school to help their students with homework. Many high school students also don’t drive or have transportation after school for in-person tutoring. She said she visits with students via Zoom or email, as well as by phone and in-person, to answer their math questions or help them understand difficult concepts.
“It’s about giving them more opportunities to get the help they need so they can understand what’s going on,” Davis said.
Davis said she feels it’s important for her to be available to help any student, whether they go to school in USD 383 or not. She’s willing to help students at Flint Hills Christian School, Junction City, Wamego, and even other places further away in Kansas. Being able to help children “at all hours,” Davis said, is something she feels compelled to do.
Additionally, Davis teaches math during the district’s summer STEM program. She is planning a summer trip to Peru with a group of students to donate classroom supplies to several schools in that country. She said she wanted to incorporate a volunteer service project into her tutoring program.
“I still feel like some communities in the Midwest have a long way to go as far as being culturally aware,” Davis said. “That’s kind of what sparked me to do educational travel opportunities. Building on that global community, experiencing different cultures in a safe way … I feel like these students come back from these trips and have a totally different perspective on the world than a student that may have never left Manhattan.”
She said part of the $5,000 award will be used to purchase school supplies for Peruvian children. She said seeing that spark of understanding in a child’s eyes motivates her to get out of bed and go to work every day.
“I think the thing that really gets me going is whenever I get through to a kid that other teachers couldn’t,” Davis said. “You make a connection with them, get through to them, and they are motivated now. That motivates me, seeing them get excited about something. That’s exciting for me.”
