SSWCA National Conference Presentation Proposal

Note: The following includes portions of a conference presentation proposal I wrote on behalf of a research team I led at BYU. It reflects my ability to respond to questions with clarity and concision while maintaining a professional tone. This presentation proposal was accepted by the Secondary School Writing Center Association in December 2022.

ABSTRACT: IN 100 WORDS OR FEWER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE CONTENT OF YOUR PRESENTATION.

IF YOUR PRESENTATION IS SELECTED, THIS WILL APPEAR IN THE CONFERENCE PROGRAM

AND WILL HELP ATTENDEES DECIDE TO ATTEND YOUR SESSION.

CONSIDER YOUR AUDIENCE!

Leveraging our experience as tutors at our university writing center and preservice English

teachers, we have partnered with a local high school to build a secondary school writing center.

Our project has been guided by this primary research question: How can universities collaborate

with secondary schools to build and sustain peer writing centers? We have spent the last several

months learning how to support teacher-directors, develop training for tutors, and work together

to benefit both secondary and postsecondary institutions. Our original project has since grown

into the Secondary School Writing Center University Partnership (SSWCUP), a model that other

universities, their local secondary schools, and other relevant writing organizations can adopt.

PRESENTATION CONTENT: PLEASE DESCRIBE THE CONTENT OF YOUR PRESENTATION. (200 WORDS) 

Featuring the voices of SSWCUP’s current partners (which include our university writing center

and English Education program, secondary school partners, SSWCA, and JPTSS), our presentation details how the partnership began, how it has developed, and where we hope to take it

moving forward. We will first cite research foundational to our project: the model of writing

center work across universities and coordinating secondary schools designed by Deans and

Courtmanche of the University of Connecticut. Our project has largely been to modify this

model by removing the university institution as the focal point and making each participant an

equal stakeholder that is instead tethered to a shared commitment to peer writing tutoring. 

The majority of our presentation outlines the work we have already done with our local high

schools as both researchers and participants, working together to identify the context-specific

needs of these emerging writing centers and develop resources as necessary. Following a closer

look into each partner’s contributions to secondary school writing centers, we will close with our

ambitions for the partnership in the future, such as publishing our findings from the project,

hosting field trips for partnering schools to visit our university writing center, and organizing

multi-school writing center conferences for participants in our area.

PARTICIPANT TAKE-AWAYS: WHAT WILL YOUR AUDIENCE LEARN/GAIN? WHAT WILL YOUR AUDIENCE FIGURATIVELY

TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR PRESENTATION?

The Secondary School Writing Center University Partnership (SSWCUP) demonstrates how

universities, secondary schools, and other relevant writing- or tutoring-centered organizations

can collaborate and why this network benefits its participants. We hope other universities, their

local secondary schools, and associated organizations will consider adopting this model to expand

and enrich writing center work in their own communities.