From in-class assignments to college essays, the Writing Center has been a staple at this school for years in supporting students with their writing endeavors. At the beginning of this year, the English department carried out changes in the Writing Center by refurbishing its physical space and improving its approach in order to better meet the needs of all students.
Prior to this year, if students needed help in the Writing Center, they would go on their own time, either during advisory or lunch, and the two Composition Assistants — Regina Gretschel and Andrea Herman, who are now being rebranded as “Writing Coaches” — in the center would support them. During lunch, English Honors Society (EHS) tutors would also provide additional help to struggling students. Otherwise, teachers typically sent students who were struggling to receive support in the Writing Center during class time.
This year, however, that is changing. “What we realized was that student attendance was declining for a variety of reasons that we were surmising, so we thought that we would be more proactive. [Now] when teachers are having in-class writing experiences, the Writing Coaches go into the classroom and work directly with students to provide more support, but also to show students what the Writing Center is and what the Writing Coaches can do for them, and hopefully encourage them to come into the Writing Center on their own time if they need additional support. For example, if [there was a day in class] where students were writing thesis statements, a Writing Coach would start on one side of the room and the teacher would start on the other side of the room, and both of them would work their way around the room giving direct support, which increases the amount of individualized feedback that each student receives. Or if they were attributing quotes, they might spot-check each student’s work,” English Department Head Evva Starr said.
This method of embedding coaching strives to ensure that students are having consistent support throughout the entire writing process, and are connecting with the Writing Coaches on a personal level. Rather than writing support being one-and-done, the Writing Coaches are aiming to build lasting bonds with students early on in their writing journey. “I was working with students in an English class this past quarter, and I was in that class for over a couple of weeks supporting students one-on-one. I can think of one particular student who I was working with every time that I went, and then that student started coming in at lunch and during advisory to work with me on that same assignment. And so, there was just an ongoing conversation taking place. When we just see students once, we can certainly work with them, but when we have a better sense of their whole trajectory through a particular class and through their whole time here as student writers, we can provide more meaningful support. What we’re hoping to cultivate is a more relational experience for students where they get to know us over the years, we get to know them over the years, so then by the time they come at the beginning of their senior year and are ready to work on their college application essays, we see them in a different context than if we were complete strangers,” Herman said.
In order to stray away from a more transactional approach between a Writing Coach and student seeking support, the English department also changed the Writing Center’s physical space to be more welcoming and collaborative with circular tables and vibrant posters. “We changed up the furniture in here so that it is more conducive to dialogue. Students can come in and work one-on-one with the coach and not be sitting at side-by-side desks while they’re doing that. The space is more purposeful, especially since it’s for everybody, not just for students who are struggling or who are doing incredibly well. It’s for students across that entire spectrum,” Herman said.
The Writing Center is a system that is not unique to this school; every high school in MCPS has at least one composition assistant. However, the number of composition assistants a school receives is dependent on how big the school is, and not every school utilizes them the same way. “I believe that the model that we have is one of the most robust I’ve seen. Other schools are doing what we’re doing, but some schools are not. Maybe they don’t have two [Writing Coaches], maybe they don’t have two full-time, maybe they’re not using them for direct support in class; there are other things that they can be utilized to do like grading papers, so a school might use them completely for that,” Starr said.
Regardless, the Writing Center is fundamental to this school due to the multitude of opportunities it offers, like EHS tutoring. “The Writing Center allows students to get a second opinion on their writing and thus improve their abilities. Because [EHS] tutoring at the Writing Center comes from peers, students that may be afraid to ask their teachers may feel more comfortable approaching another student,” senior and EHS officer Veronica Chunikhin said.
In the future, the English department hopes to expand its support to other subjects where writing is centralized, like social studies and world languages, and hopes to continue having the Writing Center be a bustling environment where students are busy and collaborative.
