Teens Promoting Health Awareness How to Start a Peer Tutor Project at Your School

The ¡VIVA! Peer Tutor Project of South Texas ISD  Teens promote health literacy through the use of National Library of Medicine resources Class presentations Outreach events  Program benefits Service learning Collaboration 21 st century skills

Overview Best Practices

Planning  Complete in advance  Write and distribute  Involve key players  Follow a timeline  Have a backup plan  Complete a budget  Buy supplies

Management  Consistency  The fewer, the better  Have an assistant who is informed

Recruiting  Establish criteria for program participation during planning  Advertise early and everywhere possible  Have a written job description  Make expectations clear

Applications, Screening, Selection  Students Submit letter of interest and/or application Review written applications to determine eligibility Get teacher, counselor and/or administration recommendations Check grades Should be upperclassmen Possess good public speaking skills

Orientation  Provide on first day  Delineate policies and procedures  Distribute calendar, materials and other information

Training  Practice with case studies or role-playing activities  Learn to give and receive feedback  Rehearse  Videotape

Parental Support  Make expectations clear Statement of commitment Calendars  Parent meeting Dress rehearsals Potluck

Monitoring  Hold feedback sessions with teachers, tutors and managers  Obtain written reports Could be a simple checklist  Final “Best Practices” session for program evaluation

PR  Begins with recruiting  Publicize progress to other members of district, families and public  Keep photo history  Give recognition

Record Keeping  Attendance records  Files of successful activities  Calendars

Evaluation  Collect data Guest log Attendance Feedback  Make adjustments  Report success

Detailed Information Your Campus

First Things First  Administrator approval  Medical librarian or qualified trainer recruited

Personnel  Program sponsor Campus librarian or teacher Motivated, energetic and organized  Trainer Medical librarian  Peer tutors Upperclassmen Must be passing all classes Good public speaking skills

Getting Started  Medical librarian trains program sponsor on NLM resources MedlinePlus, PubMed, Tox Town, Household Products Database  Program sponsor trains peer tutors Focus on MedlinePlus  Peer tutors practice and provide positive feedback Videotaping

Spreading the Word  Faculty meetings  Class presentations  Open houses  Sporting events  School activities

Documentation  Meeting attendance  Outreach/presentation attendance  Photos

Help is Here ¡VIVA! web site

Our Project

NLM Resources Household Products Database Pub MedTox TownMedlinePlus Household ProductsPub MedTox TownMedlinePlus

Project Team Members  Lucy Hansen Principal Investigator  Sara Reibman Project Specialist  Ann Vickman Project Director  Javier Jiménez Technology Support  Debra Warner Project Consultant  Cindy Olney, PhD. Evaluation Consultant

PowerPoint prepared by Ann Vickman and Sara Reibman 2008