Note: In the spring of 2022, I submitted this research grant proposal to BYU's College of Humanities seeking funding for a major project launching a local writing center. This grant proposal gave me valuable experience articulating purpose and communicating a narrative in a way that would gain the support of an educational institution. I was awarded a BYU Humanities Grant following the submission of this proposal.
As a writing consultant at BYU’s
Research and Writing Center (RWC) and an editorial assistant of The Journal
of Peer Tutoring in Secondary Schools (JPTSS), I’ve come to recognize the
incredible impact student writing centers can have both in enriching the
writing experience for the students they serve and building stronger community
within the institution in which the center resides. Consequently, my
educational pursuits have leaned heavily into writing center and peer tutoring
work. Despite the steadily-growing number of secondary schools across the
country, Utah currently only has one secondary school writing center, which is
located at Copper Hills High School in West Jordan, leaving many schools,
students, and teachers without the benefits and resources a writing center
provides. In coordination with BYU’s Dr. Amber Jensen, the editor of JPTSS and
co-founder of the Secondary School Writing Center Association (SSWCA), and
Braden Slater, a fellow writing consultant and JPTSS editorial assistant, I
would like to use funding from the HUM grant to partner with a local secondary
school in developing a proposal to launch another student-staffed writing
center.
The experiential knowledge and
developing practitioner knowledge I have acquired during my time working at the
RWC and volunteering with JPTSS have given me key insight into writing tutoring
as well as writing center administration and scholarship; however, building a
writing center from the ground up is a major feat that will require additional
research and preparation. Some published literature on the subject of starting
and running writing centers includes chapters from the 2018 book Advocating,
Building, and Collaborating: A Resource Toolkit to Sustain Secondary School
Writing Centers. This text discusses key considerations and artifacts
specifically designed for secondary school teachers and administrators as they
build a writing center from the ground up. Additionally, I anticipate that a
large portion of my research will involve interviews with writing center
administrators such as Dr. Tyler Gardner, the BYU Research and Writing Center coordinator;
Dr. Steve Haslam, English teacher and administrator at the Copper Hills High
School Writing Center; and Dr. Lisa Eastmond Bell, the Utah Valley University
Writing Center coordinator and president of the Rocky Mountain Writing Center
Association. Each of these professionals have firsthand experience with
developing needed materials, training student tutors, and successfully
sustaining writing centers. They therefore will serve as crucial funds of
knowledge and points of reference in the process of starting a new secondary
school writing center.
The first step in this process—which I plan to complete this spring—will be to identify a local secondary school with the faculty, resources, and interest needed to create and uphold a writing center. I already have connections to faculty members at Provo High School and, with the help of Dr. Jensen, I will contact additional local schools to determine which is best suited for this project. The next step is working alongside the teacher leaders and students at the school to undertake the research this project entails, including interviews with the individuals listed above, collecting and developing relevant training artifacts, and outlining a proposal that can be delivered to school administration. This step will be carried out through the spring and summer of this year. In the fall, I plan to work on site with students, faculty, and administration to complete the proposal, lead tutor trainings, and help the school apply for the Jensen-Hutton grant (offered by SSWCA), which will provide them with funds for the new writing center and secure them membership within SSWCA. The deliverable that I intend to produce by December is the writing center proposal, which will include details on training materials, how the center plans to operate and compensate student tutors, and what funds the writing center will request in order to function. At the conclusion of this project, I would like to create a “how-to guide” on launching a secondary school writing center and present it at the Rocky Mountain Writing Conference Association conference and the Secondary School Writing Centers Association conference in Washington D.C. next March.
Scholarly Sources:
- The Journal of Peer Tutoring
in Secondary Schools
- A Guide to Creating
Student-Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 6-12, by Richard Kent
- Advocating, Building, and
Collaborating: A Resource Toolkit to Sustain Secondary
School Writing Centers, by
(SSWCA)
Comments
Post a Comment