Message for Parents and Guardians about the RHS Writing Center
RHS is fortunate to have a Writing Center in place to help your child with any writing
assignment in any subject. The Writing Center, located in room 2040, is open at lunch to help
your student with papers including research papers, literary analysis essays, and college essays.
The Writing Center is staffed by the English Composition Assistants, Kate Simpson and me,
Helen Clark. We work closely with all the teachers in the English department, as we are in their
classrooms all day. We know the curriculum and assignments and have read most of the novels
and plays. More importantly, we know the students and they know us. We have established a
relationship with them so they feel comfortable coming to us for help.
We set up our Writing Center using the philosophy in the Bedford Guide for Writing
Tutors whose author directs University of Maryland’s Writing Center. The writing center
approach is to help writers “sort through their ideas, clarify their thoughts, and then communicate
them effectively to an audience” (Bedford Guide). We sit side by side with the student and ask
questions, listen, and guide them to come up with their own ideas and do their own work. The
point of the Writing Center is not for the student to leave the center with an A paper (although
that often happens when a student works hard), but for him or her to grow and develop as a
writer. We are not a proofreading service; students cannot just drop off a paper and pick it up
later.
Students needing help should always bring a copy of their assignment and the rubric, so
that we can help them fully address the requirements of the assignment. We encourage them to
read the assignment carefully to make sure they are following the teacher’s instructions and to
brainstorm ideas using the planning sheet provided by the teacher or using a graphic organizer.
This pre-writing stage is really important; that’s where the ideas can percolate and the student
can get some energy and enthusiasm toward the assignment.
Your child may have the misconception that the Writing Center is only for struggling
students. The Writing Center is available to all students. Your child’s college will probably have
a Writing Center, so this is a great way for them to get into the habit of going to a writing center.
If your child is struggling with grammar or with writing a college essay, Kate and I have also
created a lot of grammar exercises and a presentation on writing a college essay that students can
use when they come to the center
Parents often wonder how they can help their child with a difficult paper, especially when
he or she seems particularly stressed out. Encourage your child to carefully read the assignment
and to fill out the planning sheet provided by the teacher. Or simply help them brainstorm ideas
in a supportive way until they start putting some ideas together. Help your child set realistic
goals about the amount of time a paper takes; it is better to work on a paper for a half-hour a day
for a week than to try to write it the night before it is due. Help him or her to also keep a sense
of perspective; no one is expecting him or her to write like a doctoral student, but like a teen.
Ask your child to share his or her Turnitin.com password so you can see some of his or
her writing and the comments teachers have made.
PLEASE remind your child that the Writing Center is a wonderful resource he or she can
use to succeed in the all-important skill of writing.
Scribendo disces scribere [By writing you learn to write].
Helen Clark and Kate Simpson