A+typical+day+in+a+writing+center

The following passage comes from Richard Kent, author of //A Guide to Creating Student-Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 6-12.// Additional resources can be found in his book and on his website, available at []



A typical day in the writing center...

//"It’s 7:30 in the morning and two bleary-eyed 9th grade girls peek around the doorframe. Tabitha, the writing center student on duty, smiles. She figures the girls are from Mr. St. John’s class—all of his students are writing multi-genre papers this month and must bring the papers in for a conference. At 7:38, Jeff and Lindy arrive to help with two more of Mr. St. John’s students.//

//Housed in the media center/library, the writing center creates lots of extra traffic, but Mr. Sassi, the media center specialist, loves the comings and goings. Most of all, he enjoys sneaking glimpses of kids working with kids.//

//During first period, Dustin swaggers in. The first draft of his reading autobiography is due on Friday—it’s Wednesday. “I don’t have a clue what to write,” he moans. To get to know him, Marcy chats a bit with Dustin. Finally, she suggests, “Let’s make a list of things that you’ve read in your life.” She helps him create a list, including snowboard magazines, comics, and a weekly magazine that has ads to sell everything; he’s also reminded of the picture books his mom read to him when he was younger. In fifteen minutes Dustin is on his way with a blueprint for the paper.//

//During 3rd period, three senior writing center staffers go to Mrs. Tyler’s class to confer with students during their writing workshop time. Mark staffs the writing center by himself, and except for a steady stream of kids coming in to use the computers, no one needs his help in the first hour. During the last thirty minutes of the period, he talks to three A.P. Biology students who are writing a brochure on Lyme disease for a group project.//

//At lunchtime fourteen students work at the computers while three student-editors, all seniors, sit around the main desk cramming for a physics test. A wiry boy fingering a paper peers in, sees the seniors, and bolts. “I’ll go get him,” says Jason, pushing aside his physics notes. Jason returns with the boy and spends ten minutes discussing the tenth-grader’s paper with him.//

//When the dismissal bell sounds at 2:25 pm, fifty-three kids make a beeline for the lecture hall. A fifteen-minute S.A.T. study session called “Slaying the Dragon” is being offered. Today, it’s sentence completions. By 3:00 in the afternoon when Ian tallies the writing center’s logbook, twenty-eight students have visited the center for conferences and seventy-seven have used the computers. The twenty-three kids in Mrs. Tyler’s 3rd period class and the S.A.T. crew are counted on separate tally sheets.//

//The writing center is closed for the day.//

References Kent, R. (2006). Creating and operating our writing center. //Creating Student Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 2-6.// Available at [].

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