High School Writing Centers
While College-level writing centers have been gaining strength in popularity and support for many decades, secondary school-level centers are still in practical infancy. Many high school teachers are, however, realizing the importance of peer tutoring, writing centers, and writing itself, so the concept of the writing center is being considered more and more often. In Fairfax County, VA, for example, many English teachers participate in the Northern Virginia Writing Project and learn about the ways a writing center can not only improve their students, but the students throughout the school. However, due to the lack of available information, many secondary school teachers seem to find the task of forming a writing center a daunting one. This website is an attempt to provide both a compilation of research and the resources that would best encourage and assist in the creation of secondary school writing centers.In addition, its creators hope to further encourage the establishment of these centers by gathering and publishing information that will be of interest to those centers already in existence – fledgling or long-standing. However, the task of creating or maintaining a high school writing center is not an easy one, nor are there any "right" answers or "perfect" models - each center must be made to serve its own individual population. There are endless questions being asked daily both in the creation and facility of these centers - great questions asked by teachers, parents, administrators, and students that deserve serious contemplation. Who should the tutors be? How is this secondary-level writing center different from a college writing center? How should the center attract clients? How should the center be funded? While perusing this site, the curious reader should not expect to find the answers to all of these questions. Instead, look for suggestions, hypotheses, data, and, yes, more questions. And while the educators and administrators behind majority of writing centers - at secondary and college levels - share general beliefs about the foundations of those centers, there is a wide range of views on essentially everything else; and, it is important to note, that this site cannot possible address all those views. Because of the relative novelty of the high school writing center, there are fewer resources for those interested in starting a center for their learning institutions. However, the bright side is that there are endless opportunities for creation, novelty, growth, research, and contribution to the field of knowledge. The contributors of this site hope to gather a representation of those contributions and create a central depository of information for new, existing, or inquiring members of the high school writing center community. The "idea of the [high school] writing center," to borrow a few words from writing center scholar Stephen North, is often misunderstood, misrepresented, and miscommunicated. As educators, it is our responsibility to encourage participation from our fellow teachers and administrators. |
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