At the beginning of December, a local high school reached out and asked to come into our school to shadow our writing center and ask questions. They were interested in beginning their own center. It was a career-long dream of their English department chair, much like it was for my own department coordinator when we began our center three years ago.
“Of course!” I said, “We love to host,” I beamed.
“Cool,” the tutors said. “We get to highlight what we do,” they smiled.
Our excitement was infectious and on the day of the visit, our guests could certainly pick up on our enthusiasm. But my passion may have snowballed into a laundry list of to dos, an inventory of resources, a catalog of problems, and their subsequent solutions. Each of their questions may have been met with my circuitous fervor and though they were gracious and kind, I felt like a crazed aunt who – happy with an audience- is left panting at the end of a speech while the listeners inch toward the door, exhausted.
I realized I overwhelmed them, so I wrote a clarifying follow-up email. And I began to write this post. There’s so much to share and I’ve tried not to get bogged down in obsessive details (though I am happy to share if you reach out!).
Writing Centers can be school-wide resources that truly respect learning as a process and growth as a product of student communication and engagement. Our Writing Center has been the joy of my career and a daily learning opportunity for my students and me. To get one up and running though, there is much to do, to know, and to try.
To the question, how do I begin a writing center? I’ve tried to curb my rambling crazy aunt vibes and curated a more streamlined starting list:
To do
Beginning a writing center is not for the faint of heart. It requires much research, many meetings, and a slew of conversations. The first ‘to do’ on our list proved to be the most important one: leveraging administrative and district-level support. Beyond the support of the English department and our school administration, we wanted to ensure an institutional knowledge base where everyone shared our vision of what a Writing Center can be. Many colleagues and administrators conjured up images of dusty backroom computer labs from the 90s where students receive remedial help. But writing centers today are vibrant collaborative spaces where students and teachers gravitate, and our first to do was rallying educators around this vision and resource. We created a precise proposal that brought our vision to life with research, examples, data, and pictures. Your first ‘to do’ in beginning a Writing Center is to sell it.
To know
Before starting, being well-read, researched, and connected was imperative. I have included a list of the resources that I used, and I am often in the midst of reading and researching. I needed to know my resources, my people, and the latest work in writing center pedagogy. My partner, Ondrea Reisinger, helped begin this process and she spent an entire sabbatical visiting and researching writing centers. But when I think of one tip that is good to know, it is that there are established resources and people who have done this work for decades and they provide the best guidance and support. It is so beneficial to know “your people” and it is so valuable to build a support system that will sustain the work you are about to embark upon.
To Read
A Guide to creating Student- Staffed Writing Centers (Richard Kent)
ESL Writers: A Guide for Writing Center Tutors (Shanti Bruce and Ben Rafoth)
The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors (6th edition) (Ryan and Zimmerelli)
The St. Martin’s Sourcebook for Writing Tutors (Christina Murphy and Steve Sherwood)
To Try
Building a writing center is the perfect opportunity to try ideas that you might not have been able to achieve in a regular classroom setting. Think of yourself as a consummate host to a scholarly feast and play around with the menu and atmosphere.
In our first year we hosted bullet journal writing sessions, ‘nights against procrastination,’ Lego building and transitions workshops, and blogging studios. These first tries have led to more ideas, energy and collaboration and they go a long way in creating a culture of writing and scholarship in a building. These tries have also included other departments, clubs, and the larger community which provides a refreshing mix of energy.
In addition to bringing people together, we have also tried many atmospheric shifts to create the perfect scholarly mingle. From couches to microphones, décor, and posted student work, there is a lot to play around with and design.
To Research
Journal – Secondary School Writing Centers Association (sswca.org)
WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship – The WAC Clearinghouse (colostate.edu)
The Writing Center Journal – The Official Journal of the IWCA
PRAXIS: A WRITING CENTER JOURNAL
A dose of what I’ve included here went into that end of day email to the visiting school. The writing center has become a special nook in our school and in trying to walk our visitors through every cranny of it, I realized I had to reel it in and focus on the big ‘to dos.’ Much like the quintessential tutoring difference between focusing on global vs. local errors, I understood that I probably overwhelmed the visitor (which you should never do to a writer!). So let me leave you all with this big answer to the question, “how do I start a writing center?”
Start with zeal, spunk, and enthusiasm; it can ignite your writing center culture.
Do you have additional questions or ideas for starting a writing center? Send them my way @SouthWriting or jtannous@cbsd.org. Stay tuned for more posts about writing center pedagogy.
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