Paper Tutoring is a completely free service provided by the school district allowing  students to get extra support for any class they have. This includes having a writing assignment looked over or learning how to do a certain math problem for homework. To access Paper, log into their website, paper.co, with your school account. The website will already have your schedule set up, making help for all of your specific classes accessible.

“I think that the primary reason that the school district provided Paper for students is to give them an opportunity to get help during times when the teacher isn’t available. Whether that’s during class and the teacher is working with another student, or after class when a teacher has a meeting or another class,” English teacher Jason Drogin said.

Teachers like the idea of Paper Tutoring because it’s a great way for students to improve their grades. However a lot of students still haven’t tried it out, likely due to them not knowing about it or choosing flex time and in person tutoring over online tutoring.

“I’m really glad that the district has decided to offer it and I hope that students will continue to try it out. I know that there are plenty of students who aren’t really making good use of the resource right now, but I think it could be a real benefit to a lot of students who may not be getting the grades that they want to earn in the class,” Drogin said.

A benefit that Paper has to offer is having professionals look over the details such as punctuation and spelling in writing pieces. 

“I can certainly see the value of using Paper in english class just given that there’s so much feedback for me to give every student in their writing whether it has to do with their punctuation or spelling, the logic of how one idea flows into the next and finding good evidence,” Drogin said.

In the past, Paper has proven to be a very helpful tool for those who did distance learning at home.

“I used Paper throughout sophomore year, during distance learning it was pretty useful because there was a way to get tutoring online. It’s a very accessible service and I used it mostly throughout just sophomore year for math homework especially but you can get all sorts of help on Paper,” senior Diego Cruz said. 

“They have your schedule in the Paper system and so you can just click which class you need help on and they have personalized tutors for you so that you can go and get the help that you need. Like they even have elective classes that you can get help on,” Cruz said.

The vast variety of tutors that Paper has gives you support for all of your classes including elective classes. 

“I would say the feedback definitely was helpful especially like when I used it more for math help, they definitely took the time to break everything down and they were always open to questions so you wouldn’t have to feel bad about constantly bothering them,” Cruz said. 

Paper is a service designed specifically for personalized tutoring and answering individual questions, meaning there won’t be time where asking questions comes across as something awkward. As tutors, answering these questions and breaking it down into easier steps is the main part of their job.

Even if some students aren’t able to afford or be provided with personal tutors, they can still get the extra help they need through Paper because it’s free of charge. 

“I think the fact that it’s free shows how accessible it is to everybody who needs help and I feel like because it’s a free service, I would definitely recommend it to people if they’re struggling with a certain class or need personalized help,” Cruz said.

Many personal tutors can cost up to hundreds of dollars per session, a price that not everyone can afford, whereas free tutoring online is accessible to everybody in school.

“I’m very glad it’s free because it makes it accessible to anyone. I think it’s a really great resource and I try to encourage it all the time,” English teacher Hannah Lee said. 

Free tutoring also comes at a benefit for teachers, because they will not always have time in class or flex periods to go over assignments and work. This also means that students can still get the help they need even outside of the classroom.

“It’s going to be a while before I can get a student to answer their questions and I think that’s the perfect opportunity to use Paper. I tend to encourage students to use Paper outside of class time, because I find that we don’t usually have that much class time for them to reach out to a Paper tutor and get feedback,” Drogin said.

Both teachers and students also see Paper Tutoring as an advantage students have when it comes to getting extra help, especially when it comes to writing assignments.

“I think one benefit is that they just have another set of eyes to look at their work and it’s like another brain going through their work and giving them feedback on it so their writing can be improved,” Lee said.

“I think that Paper is supposed to be used for an opportunity to get feedback or to get help with an assessment or an assignment so that they can feel confident moving forward in the curriculum that they’re learning,” Drogin said.

English tends to be a popular subject for Paper Tutoring, since you’re able to get peer edits through a very short process. 

“I usually use Paper when I have an english essay and it’s usually like one of those tutors to just check it,” freshman Rhodny Noto said.

Paper can be extremely helpful for situations like a last minute overview of your writing assignment right before you turn it in. There’s no harm in sending in your assignment to get it checked over through a few clicks.

“Usually it takes around like a day or two for a response. They’ll help me with it and give me a second pair of eyes just to review it,” Noto said.

This makes Paper perfect for quick and useful feedback, because it shouldn’t take too long for tutors to respond. Even if the deadline is due in a few days, there should be plenty of time for you to still send your assignment through and get it looked over by a professional.

As of now, not a lot of students realize how useful Paper Tutoring can be. Moving forward, the school really wants to encourage students to frequently continue to make good use of the online resources because it can drastically improve how people are doing in school. 

“I think that once it starts to spread from word of mouth from one student to the next,  a lot of students will start to use it and I think it can be a really powerful tool to help students be as successful as they want to be in english and other subjects too,” Drogin said.