WHAT IS THE WRITING CENTER?

Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center

Mr. RossiRoom 116Monday – FridayOpen 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, & 8th

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THE WRITING CENTER AT VON STEUBEN

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Open 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th periods

A safe place to: talk about your writing assignments receive feedback on your writing from a

peer work on homework complete school projects finish other school-related activities

Our Vision:4

The Writing Center is a place where students help students develop and strengthen their writing skills including planning, drafting, revising and evaluating.

THE WRITING CENTER RULES MADE SIMPLE

Read the rules posted on the wall for specifics. In general:

No eating, drinking, or grooming (especially lotion) in the Writing Center!

Be respectful of others.

Treat the Writing Center as a place to do academic work, not as a place to play. Take advantage of the help Mr. Rossi and the Peer Tutors offer.

Help us maintain our equipment by not changing any settings and by being careful with it.

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Meet the Tutors6

Tutors available:

1st Mr. Rossi

3rd Abby Hodgkinson, Amera Al-Ali, Rachel Glass, Wahida Patel, & David Flores

4th Nicky Patel & Corie Sparlin

5th Emina Ceka, Emily Garcia, Djana Mujkic

6th Anastasiya Apalkova, Alma Marin, Jesse Nguyen, Tania Salgado & Paige Yang

8th Angie Azouri, Mary Cardenas, Jenny Nunez, & Aleksandra Steinert

Mr. Rossi is also available during these times

THE WRITING CENTER…7

DOES

Provides a safe and supportive place for you to talk about and practice your writing

Offers you individual tutoring

Shows that writing is a learning process

Helps you understand that the key to good writing is REVISION

Encourages you to develop your own proofreading skills

DOES NOT

Tell you what to say or how to say it

Write your papers for you

Predict or promise certain grades

Criticize your assignments or your teachers

STUDENT’S ROLE

Come prepared

Know your prompt and read any source materials BEFORE we work together!

Think about how we can help you most – brainstorming topics, thesis statements, citations, organization, etc.

Actively participate in our meeting. Remember, this is your assignment!

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A sample mini conference9

Questions for the Peer Tutors

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Please write down at least one question for the Peer Tutors based on what you’ve heard so far.

Meet the Macs

Macs, not PCs

.doc vs .docx

Logging on User name: Password: Cps followed by your ID number

The dock Saving files

Flash drives and e-mail Logging out

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What is a SMART Goal?12

S: Specific – Choose one area of your writing that needs improvement (organization, focus, elaboration & support, sentence structure, & grammar & mechanics)

M: Measurable – The improvement can be seen in the next writing assignment.

A: Attainable – The goal is achievable in the next four weeks. (improvement not perfection)

R: Realistic – The goal is one that is taught in this class.

T: Time-specific – You have four weeks to achieve this goal.

Sample SMART Goal13

I will improve the ELABORATION in my writing by using at least three concrete details and examples to further develop my next draft. I will achieve this goal by having a Peer Tutor look at my draft and by asking questions of my writing like: How did the event I’m describing make me feel? What did you see, feel, or hear that brings the

experience to life? What descriptive adjectives and vivid verbs can I use

to paint a picture with words?

Student Samples: Are these SMART? 1. My goal is to get better in Style: Word Choice, Sentence

Structure, and Sentence Variety. I will achieve this by talking to my teacher and tutor to reach my goal.

2. I want to achieve only 3’s and 2’s. I will do this by doing well on the next writing assignment because I didn’t do well on the last one.

3. My goal is to write a paper free of sentence fragments. I will do this by reviewing the rules of sentence construction and proof reading my work with another reader such as a classmate or my tutor.

4. I will improve my Sentence Structure. I will achieve this by reading 15 minutes per night before bed and then writing down examples of different sentences.

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Your assignment:15

Write a SMART Goal that includes: The goal (Is it SMART?) How you will achieve it

This is due TODAY at the end of the period. Peer Tutors (and Ms. Narbert & Mr. Rossi) will be walking around the room to assist you.

Once your SMART Goal has been checked, you will type it into a Word document and email it to yourself.

Exit Slip: Print one copy of the document and turn it in to Ms. Narbert.