"Attracting cajoling, or enticing students (and staff) to utilize a writing center obviously depends upon the nature of services offered in the center."

James Upton Burlington Community High School Burlington Iowa "THE WRITE Place" "Major Services

• (1)to provide remediation, reinforcement and enrichment of all communication skills to all students on request or referral basis

• (2)to provide The Write Place personnel in all classrooms so that they may introduce and give practice in traditional writing skills and also introduce and assist with writing-as-learning

• (3)to provide a center for staff exploration, development, and sharing of writing-as-learners activities.

Spreading Awareness

Let everyone know about the writing center before opening.

• - Make flyers

• - Make Announcements over intercoms, TVs. School districts have television channels. Advertise

• - Release the Writing Center proposal to the public Upton, "We began research into a writing center and began writing formal proposals to establish one almost three years before the center officially opened."

• - Advertise help with getting into college : college essay help

• - Advertise raise in SAT Verbal score

Let Academic Community have say in operations

• - open discussion during school board meeting

• - open debate for language arts departments

• - Faculty meetings

Type up a Writing Center Newsletter

Ellen H. Brinkley Western Michigan University

Attracting All Types of Students

Two particular types of Students

• - Those who especially wanted writing assistance

• - Those who especially needed writing assistance

Requiring ALL students to attend writing center

• - Brinkley : "Is there a time to require all students to come for a conference? Yes, at the beginning of the year, especially if the center is new and students don�t know what to expect."

• - Require all 9th graders to go during study hall

• • o John Neil Graham Valentine Middle School Valentine, Nebraska

* "At the Valentine Middle School, all of the seventh- and eighth-grade students to come to writing lab each day because it is a required class. The writing lab has replaced a morning study hall."

• - For Long Term Projects

• • Have teachers sign up to have whole classes to be required to see center for help with project

• • In or out of class

Activities To Attract Writers

• - College Collaborations

• • Henry A Luce, Thomas G. Ferguson Associates, Inc., Parsippany, New Jersey
  • Creates fun � "Those of us who have been fortunate enough to participate in such collaborations [high school � college] can offer one other observation: they are also a lot of fun."

• • College essay tutorials

• • • Have college students come in and speak to students

• • • College admissions officers come in and lecture what it takes to get in

• • • College advice is attractive to students and parents alike

• • • • Every level of student want and need to get into college. These tutorials and lectures attract both types of students

• • Very Common � "With Specific regard to collaboration through writing centers, programs in one form or another have begun in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin."(Luce)

Writing Across the Curriculum

• - Writing Centers are not just for english majors, other subject areas include areas of writing. Here are a few examples of some projects and skills needed for other areas

• - Classroom Presentations

• • Barbarba Brooks Pattonville High School, Maryland Heights, Missouri

• • • "Our most popular presentations involve teaching research skills, demonstrating how to answer questions, and explaining how to write book reports for nonfiction as well as fiction books"

• - Create Active working relationship with faculty members

• - Prentation Citation Guidelines - important across many areas

• • • MLA

• • • APA

• - Diverse areas of study help attract students, NOT just for the heavily writing based departments

• • Successful WAC Projects - Brooks

• • • "Economics 'Problem Solving' "organization skills

• • • • Brainstorming and Clustering
      • Outlining

• • • "Science 'Saturation Paper'"Brooks

• • • • "The annual field trip to the zoo has turned in to a profitable lesson on writing a saturation paper. At the request of a science teacher, we designed an observation sheet asking for specific information about the various places visited in the zoo."

• • • • Note taking
      • Focus and organize notes into reports

* Note All authors contributions can be found in one source:

Ed. Farrell, Pamela B. THE HIGH SCHOOL WRITING CENTER:ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING ONE. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English. 1989.

-- AmirEffat - 19 Apr 2006