By Chloe Marrapese
As of November, Ms. Strelke and Ms. Henderson are starting up a writing center here at Frontier Regional High School. This is a chance for students from all grades to have an additional creative outlet that’s also academic. By giving students this outlet outside of academics, it can be a low-stress, judgement-free environment. Writing centers provide a safe outlet to express individuality and share writing and ideas with others. Creative and constructive criticism will also be offered to foster a community of young writers.
A huge part of a writing center is the ability to work one-on-one with a mentor or teacher. This is something that both Mrs. Strelke and Ms. Henderson are both hoping to implement into our school’s community. There is also the hope that this will help even more people to express themselves outside of school and sports. Communication is a big part of running a writing center and fostering success. This center can also help to improve a student’s writing ability and give them a chance to work with teachers on personal writing or poetry. Ms. Henderson, used to work in the UMASS Writing Center for three years, and looks forward to changing the culture and attitude towards writing at Frontier.
This center also offers student-to-student tutoring as well. This is a main focus of many of the students helping to develop the center. The time spent in the center will provide advice on essays drafts, revisions, and an overall a higher quality of writing than they might have produced if they stopped earlier in the process. The idea of an additional time to work with teachers and peers in a one-on-one setting is something that I, someone who struggles when it comes to writing, am really looking forward to having. Yet, it’s not just writing you can receive help with. You can seek help on projects, classwork, and homework as well. Typical services include help with the purpose, structure, function of writing, and are geared toward writers of various levels and fields of study. Formats may include one-on-one tutoring, group tutoring, and workshop settings. Some services include drop-in, appointment, and weekly services.
Writing centers can improve attitudes towards writing and help students to excel, while feeling as if they have someone in their corner. This idea can completely change someone’s mindset and help them to put even more effort into what they do and what they can accomplish. This can also reassure the idea in teachers heads that what they’re doing does make a difference. I feel this will be a great addition to the Frontier community.