Write From The Beginning

The Need for High School Writing Centers

Michelle SzetelaSalt Lake Community College

& Copper Hills High School

Not all students believed a writing center would be helpful, however, as two students asserted:

“If I don’t have to [go to the Writing Center], I won’t.”

“I probably wouldn't because it sounds boring but if i [sic] really was suckin [sic] at righting [sic] a paper I would go.”

So what did the teachers know about writing centers and how writing centers

might help a struggling student population?

ConclusionsWriting centers can play a significant role in improving student performance. As such, the establishment of this center, especially in Utah where the number of already-established high school writing centers is insignificant, is important if student performance is to be improved. In this regard, the following recommendations are important:

Writing centers should be established at least in every high school. This will fill the existing gap thus providing badly-needed instruction to students in a prompt and convenient manner.

Writing centers should focus more on classes that have more demand for higher proficiency in writing, such as English, history, and the humanities.

The writing center director should ensure that teachers are also tutors in the writing centers, since teachers already understand the weaknesses of the students and can therefore effectively address them; however, effective tutor training could be very beneficial and serve as valuable tool to help tutors strengthen their own writing and academic skills.

What Next?Given the differences between a small charter school that catered to a struggling student population and a large public high school that featured a wider range of student achievement:

Determine teacher- and administration-specific understanding of writing center use.

Determine solutions for funding (compensation), district- and school-level support, and writing center space/location.

Determine scope and status of writing center use.

Determine the status of the would-be writing center director.

Determine the writing center goals and how to attract students.

Determine the degree of collaboration between writers and tutors.

Reference

Rafoth, B. (2010). Why Visit Your Campus Writing Center? In

C. Lowe & P. Zemliansky (Eds.), Writing Spaces:

Readings on Writing (Vol. 1, pp. 146-155). West Lafayette,

IN: Parlor Press.

Contact

E-mail: michelle.szetela@jordandistrict.org

Website: http://www.diachronicparadigm.com