By Andy Klotz—
MUNCIE, IN – You probably weren’t afraid to read this sentence, but would you fear writing it?
It seems hard to believe in the era of social media, but writing something that will be read by others or graded by a teacher is a fairly common fear. It even has a name – scriptophobia.
This kind of reluctance to writing goes well beyond not knowing where to start a paper or being unsure of how best to structure your ideas. It’s a visceral reaction, much like the more common fear of public speaking (glossophobia), and the English department at Muncie Central is doing something about it.
After months of planning and preparation, English teachers Morgan Leckie and Elli Kirkpatrick have opened the school’s Student Writing Center in room 463. The center is open to everyone, not just students who plan to become journalists or authors or teachers. The intention is to conquer fears and create confident writers.
“What we know from lots of studies that have been done nationally is that secondary writing centers make a difference,” Leckie, the center’s director, said. “They build a culture of writing and they help kids become much more fluent and literate, and that helps with their future no matter what they’re pursuing.”
“Good writing skills are so important,” Kirkpatrick, the center’s coordinator, said. “You need to know how to write well to get a job, to make a resume, to write a love letter to have someone fall in love with you.”
While writing centers are quite common on college campuses, they’re still pretty rare at high schools. Stacey Hahn of the Secondary School Writing Centers Association says it is very difficult to know how many U.S. high schools have a writing center, but she guesses it’s around 400.
“Often administrations don’t initially understand the need for writing centers, so districts and administrators are not usually the ones looking to build them,” Kelly Crespo, a writing center director at Downey High School in California, said. “These spaces in the secondary level are carved out by persistent, eager English faculty, who often have to persuade, cajole and beg for the chance to make the program exist at all.”
Muncie Central students have embraced their new center by signing up to be trained as peer tutors or volunteering for other positions.
“It’s a good addition to our school,” sophomore Lee Metcalf, the center’s student director, said. “I’ll help wherever they need it. I’ll fill in as a tutor if someone’s absent and I’ll do other things like buying supplies.”
Teachers are hoping students will not only become better writers, but that they will also develop a joy for writing that will carry over into other areas of their academic career and future professions.
“They are aware of the importance of writing and becoming a stronger writer,” Leckie said. “They have faith that this is going to help, and I do, too.”
The center will be open at 7:15 a.m. each school day and at various times throughout the day. A video with more information can be found here.
Students in grades 3 – 12 looking to further develop their writing skills are invited to attend the free Saturday sessions at Ball State hosted by the Indiana Writing Project. A schedule of upcoming sessions can be found here.
About Muncie Community Schools
Serving the local community since 1855, Muncie Community Schools (MCS) educates more than 5,000 students at six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school while also managing several other educational facilities. Through its unique partnership with Ball State University, MCS strives to maximize each student’s potential so he or she can be a positive, productive member of society. Find out more about MCS or Director of Public Education and CEO Lee Ann Kwiatkowski at muncieschools.org.
