West Writing Center Helps Students at all Phases of the Writing Process
February 1, 2021
For the past three years, West Senior High has had not only a resourceful and helpful writing center but also a place where students can build their confidence.
Freshman English teacher, Kelly Rintala has been the advisor for the writing center ever since the school decided to start it up.
“It has been open for three years. Teachers had wanted something like this for years. Most colleges have a writing center, and we knew the value. The administrators here know how important it is too, so they made it possible,” Rintala said.
Not only did the teachers know the value of what the writing center could be but so did the students. Junior, Daisy Kinney has been going since the beginning of face-to-face learning a
nd not only values what she learns but also how much effort Mrs. Rintala puts into the center.
“It’s really helpful, working with Mrs. Rintala especially, on essays for AP Language and Composition and other things like that. It helps me work through the process of everything,” Kinney said.
Although we transferred online Nov. 6, 2020, the writing center was still available via Google Meet. Junior Chloe Ricker also participated in going to the writing center when we were online.
“It was a lot more difficult even though i’m lucky enough to have WIFI access and the school provides computers, but it made it a lot harder to concentrate and there was more anxiety about it.”
Not only was it harder for the students but it has also been harder for Mrs. Rintala and how it affects the students that she works with.
“It is more difficult to work with struggling students online. It makes collaboration more difficult at times too. I’m an interpersonal learner, so I know that the conversations I have about what I’m learning are so important,” Rintala said. “We have to be very intentional about working that into our lessons online. As a whole, students are less likely to engage in these conversations virtually, it seems. The Writing Center is a place to sort of force that to happen.”
Mrs. Rintala loves working one-on-one with her students and is grateful for the time she has to help her students and to help them work through the difficult process of writing.
“The writing center is a place where students can get
one-on-one help at any point of the writing process. They can bring a writing piece in and get it proofread, or they can talk through their ideas and organization at the beginning of a piece,” Rintala said. “Writing is hard, but being able to dig in and focus on your own personal writing needs makes it a little bit easier.”
