What Our Statistics Say About Us: Round 2

Curious about who visits the Writing Center and what kind of tutorials happen the most frequently? Us too! In taking a look into recent statistics, we noticed a few trends:

We are so excited that more Middle Division students are visiting the WC! Middle Division and Juniors tied for the most amount of tutorials per grade level, so keep up the good work! 

Weirdly enough, tutorials that occur in the Writing Center are tied with tutorials occurring outside of the WC. As tutors, we do our best to accommodate our tutee's needs, so meeting outside of the WC is always a great option! We hope that more students will start taking advantage of the OWL.

The vast majority of papers are analytical and we are glad that we have been able to help so many of you! We are happy to see a large percentage of Creative papers coming in at 29% as well. With research paper season in full swing, we hope to tutor more research papers.

One of the most amazing things about Berkeley students is the way that they are self-advocates. The percentage of voluntary tutorials still comes in much higher than the number of required tutorials, with voluntary tutorials at 54% and required tutorials at 46%. Great job and keep it up!

-Emily

Sonnets, Short Stories, and Personal Narratives

Senior WC tutors Sarah  Cohen and Pooja Dave practice counting on their fingers with Academy Prep 7th graders... just kidding! Today was the last of the fall Academy Prep visits as the seniors helped improve their young tutees' sonnets. Our teachers observed a sea of hands counting syllables on fingers hoping to reach the perfect ten. It was a bittersweet moment for the seniors; this would be  one of their last Academy Prep lunches.

Hello Everyone!

As you probably know, the Academy Prep tutoring sessions are in full swing! Here's an example of the great work you all have been doing lately. If you haven't had a session yet, it's something to look forward to. 

Thanks for all your hard work!

Calling All Tutors

Every day, our tutors and teachers try to get their creative juices flowing and come up with new and exciting ways to bring more tutees into the Writing Center. But, how can you convince people to get tutored when you’ve never been tutored yourself? Think about the last time you walked into the Writing Center other than during your block (or when you used the WC printer). It probably isn’t that often, right?

Here’s a request for our tutors: try and visit the writing center sometime this semester and get your paper tutored. We all know you’re amazing writers, but it never hurts getting another student’s perspective.

NCPTW T-Shirts

With the national conference in full swing, student volunteers and presenters are rocking their new NCPTW shirts.

These shirts were designed by one of our own, senior, artist, and writing center tutor, Karaghen Hudson.

Enjoy the conference!

We just wanted to thank everyone who came out and/or participated in the first Eat 'n' Speak of the year! If you couldn't make it, here's a few snapshots of some of the acts performed. Hopefully this will encourage more people to be a part of the next Eat 'n' Speak, as you can see, it's tons of fun! 

Until next time, 

BPS Writing Center

Writing Center Alum, Talie Tebby

As the NCPTW approaches, the Writing Center interns and directors are moving at full speed to create and perfect their conference presentations before November. As the conference nears, the bloggers have gotten in contact with a former Writing Center tutor, Talie Tebby, for some fresh ideas on how to improve our blog, reach out to more people, and help us with our presentation.

After graduating from Syracuse University with a B.S. in magazine and a minor in religion in 2010, Talie landed a job on the editorial web team for Oprah’s OWN and was a part of the team that launched The Oprah Blog. From her experiences there, Talie will be a huge help in re-vamping our blog.

Currently, Talie is a student at Teachers College, Columbia University getting her MA in English Education. Even after high school she is still involved in a writing center community. She has tutored in writing centers at Stuyvesant High School and is currently volunteering at a new private school called Avenues: The World School.

No matter what writing center she ends up at next, she’ll always remember the popular Eat and Speaks during her high school years at Berkeley. When she was in high school, one of her favorites was a tea party themed Eat and Speak After Dark. (A new idea for our Eat and Speak directors?)

It’s so great the Talie can help us out and we’re looking forward to some big changes on the blog this year.

Skype Session with Berwick High School

Ever consider tutoring more than one student at once? At Berwick High School, tutors, commonly known as consultants, frequently tutor groups of students. According to them the experience is not as intimate as one on one tutoring but helps them gain experience and grow as tutors in an entirely different way. This and many other ideas were exchanged on Friday, October 4 when the Berkeley Writing Center communicated with Berwick High School through Skype. Lead by the Self Study group, Berkeley tutors asked their Berwick counterparts questions ranging from what made them want to start a writing center to what kind of papers they commonly tutor. Turns out Berwick students tutor all kinds of papers including lab reports from science classes! And they find it exciting and rewarding as the attached video demonstrates. Perhaps expanding tutoring services into the sciences and trying out group tutoring are concepts for the Berkeley Writing Center to consider for the future.

Stats From the Writing Center

By Emily Croslin

Viewing the Writing Center statistics proved to be interesting! Look at what our statistics say about us!

It is interesting to note that most papers that are being tutored are analytical papers with a solid 56%. Running close behind are narrative (at 15%) and creative (at 21%). 

 

Interestingly enough, many tutees are juniors, with a staggering 48%. Coming close behind are seniors (at 25%) and Middle Division (at 19%). Keep up the good work everyone and remember how much coming to the Writing Center can help! 

Thanks to all who have visited the Writing Center this year!

The First Eat N’ Speak of the Year!

A poem by Jessie Forman, a duet by Calle and Nick, and of course a performance from the Mello Divas are some of the acts to look forward to at the under the water themed Eat n’ Speak tomorrow. Be sure to make it to the library by 12:45 for some shark bite gummies, Swedish fish, goldfish, and the popular, Village Inn Pies. We have a total of nine acts signed up so far, so come out and support your friends at everyone’s favorite writing center event.

No Time to Read!

By: Taylor Coutroulis 

Loads of homework can stop students from doing many things they enjoy, such as reading. As Berkeley students, most of us are overwhelmed with homework and have trouble finding time to pick up a book and read purely for fun. Even when we do have down time, many of us turn to television rather than books. In fact, on average, students only read one to two non-school books per year. However, this does not mean some would not read if they only had more time! According to junior, Emily Croslin, "I wish I could read but I don't have much time left between homework and seeing my friends." Take our poll and tell us how many outside of school books you read per school year! 

Who's the Next Up-and-Coming?

Looking for an opportunity to showcase your talents?

The BPS Writing Center has their first Eat 'N' Speak at 12:45 on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013 in the Jean Ann Cone Library. The theme is Underwater, with some great SpongeBob and Ariel decor. Anyone is able to sign up and we encourage everyone to join! All legitimate acts signed up on the sheet on the Writing Center door by Monday, September 30th are automatically entered into a raffle to win a sponge-tastic surprise! All types of acts are welcome, feel free to read your favorite poem, story, or college essay; perform a scene or song; or tell some jokes! Even if you're not one that likes to perform, be sure to come out, grab some food, and support your friends!

Hope to see you there, we're excited for all the acts!

Berkeley’s Own Bermuda Triangle

by Emily Croslin and Taylor Coutroulis

Who knew that the Bermuda Triangle exists within our very own walls?

H3 Writing Center can be better referred to as the lost block. The block takes place in the six-person study room in the library, rather than our beloved writing center. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of this, and avoid the opportunity to visit our tutors during H block. With this article, we hope to encourage more people to take advantage of the chance to get their paper tutored during H block. Elizabeth Pearce, a tutor during H3, speaks on her experience: “I feel like there’s less traffic, not as many people come. Maybe we can raise awareness. It would be more fun if there were more people to share the Bermuda Triangle experience with me.” We invite you to use your resources and visit the library study room during H block!

How do you #writetoconnect?

 

The national council of teachers of English has dubbed sunday October 20th as the national day on writing. To celebrate, a twitter chat will occur at 8pm that night through the hashtag #nctechat. The next day, the 21st, go on twitter and help get the national day on writing trending. Join others to talk about how you personally have used writing to connect to other people. Then add #writetoconnect or #dayonwriting at the end. This is a great way to chat with people who are really passionate about writing. If you want more information, visit the website at 

http://www.ncte.org/DAYONWRITING 

Big Changes

Fancy new tables aren't the only things different about the Writing Center this year. If you stop in for a tutorial, you'll notice that we have stepped into the 21st Century and become paperless! Students can always bring in hard copies of their essays, of course, but tutors will now fill out their session notes online through Google Docs. Everyone should thank senior tutor Theo Diamandis for helping us figure this out!

Here is a link to the page: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iotioffWP53zx4v9uuvbN8ab_rJNX_ogtIe5w4r5LNU/viewform

Welcome Back!

To finish off everyone’s first week back, the interns and directors got together for the annual writing center retreat. The new interns got to know everyone as we spitballed ideas for the WC poster. This year’s theme is The Game of Write, with the clever slogan, “when you get to the center, you win!” An ingenious director came up with the idea to turn the poster into an actual game. Plans are to keep tally of who comes to the WC the most between students in middle division and students in each class of upper division. Whichever group has the most visits wins the Game of Write! It’s a great way to increase the foot traffic into the center for the new school year.

Who do you think will win? Let the game begin!

First Grade Author's Tea

This past Wednesday, our writing center tutors spent another lunch period in the First Grade classrooms to check up on their young writing prodigies. Their stories were completed, the illustrations had been colored to perfection and it had all been published in a thin, hardcover book. Now, the only thing left for the kids to do was master reading it out loud before their Author’s Tea on Friday. Every child was more than excited to showcase their work to the tutors and you could tell they had been practicing diligently. Their teachers were just as proud, for, each student’s reading skills had improved significantly throughout the course of the year. The first graders were absolutely adorable and everyone had a great time.

Tutors of the Year

Congratulations to the Writing Center Tutors of the Year: Carly Schippits and Cassandra Floch! Their significant contributions to the center earned them special recognition in convo and a plaque. Both are incredibly talented writers and we cannot thank them enough for all their hard work helping out with Academy Prep.

Carly's thoughts on winning the award:

"Shock. I don't feel like I'm worthy of this award; surely there must be some other Writing Center tutors who put more time and effort into the position? I love Ms. M-P, Mr. Brandt, and Mr. Righter; I'm going to miss them and the Writing Center as a whole (especially the junior tutors) so much next year!"

 

 

Conference Updates

The Writing Center is already excited for the NCPTW coming in November. So far we have recieved 129 submissions and are preparing for 300 presenters. We have submitted two proposals of our own, one about blogging and one about academy prep. The average submission has come from 1st year grad students and we have many more coming in. The deadline for submissions has been extended until May 1st.

For more information visit the website: http://www.ncptw2013.org/#

 

A Tribute to Our Winners

During the month of February, the Writing Center hosted a contest for all students who came and got their papers tutored. With over 200 tutorials, the odds were not ever in their favor.  Instead of imminent death and bloodshed though, shiny iTunes gift cards were waiting to be had as prizes. Jarod Guzik and Elizabeth Carter were selected from the group as our tributes, well in this case, winners. We want to congratulate them on their wins! Also, thank them and everyone else for coming into the Writing Center and encourage others to do the same. Who knows what the next prizes will be! Stay tuned for upcoming contests and prizes as we wind down on the school year.

Ask aTutor

Dear Aska Tudor:
I didn't make any of the committee meetings and I'm really sorry, but I had three other meetings on Wednesday and Sage had an awsome curry chicken on Thursday and I got so wrapped up in my taste buds that I forgot about the meeting, but I would reallyreallyreallyreally like to be a director of a committee sowhatshouldIdo?
Sincerely,
Nevah Ahn Thyme

Well, Nevah Ahn Thyme it is your lucky day, because Aska Tudor never holds a grudge. Simply email Ms. MP that you would like to interview for one of the following director's positions: blog, publicity, eat'n speak, Academy Prep, self-study, OWL. We will begin interviewing next week.

The WC goes back to First Grade

Yesterday, March 6th, members of the writing center spent their lunch periods in the classrooms of Ms. Keller, Ms. McDonough, and Ms. McElroy working with their first grade students. The week before, each tutor or pair of tutors exchanged letters with a first grader as a way to get to know each other.
Upon arriving to the clasroom, I was directed towards an adorable little girl in a neon pink headband named Alexis. Shy at first, Alexis came out of her shell after Caroline and I began to ask her questions and got to know her better. She told us all about going down the slide with her mom at the park, playing "shark tag" with her friends at recess and painting pictures of her three dogs in her spare time. We were able to help Alexis elaborate when describing her experiences so she could make her story even better.
Caroline and I had a great time working with Alexis and everyone else in the room looked like they were having so much fun with their adorable first graders. The time went by so quickly, it hardly even felt like 45 minutes.

Berkeley to Host the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing!

After a meticulous application process, Berkeley Preparatory School has been selected as the sponsor of the prestigious 2013 National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing (NCPTW). This marks the first time in conference history that a high school has been chosen to host the event. 

Tom Brandt, one of the faculty directors of Berkeley's Hoover Writing Center, played an integral role in the application process. He produced a written proposal and a website http://www.ncptw2013.org/# for the conference's bidding process. 

Sunny Tampa, FL - the location of the 2013 National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing!

With the conference to be held in November, preparations have already commenced. Berkeley alumnus Marty Baron '72, editor of the Washington Post, will be the keynote speaker. Brandt hopes to emphasize the role of high school writing centers at the conference, specifically by scheduling a thread of presentations by high school students. 

Approximately five hundred high school and college students hailing from various parts of the nation are projected to attend the conference. 

Congratulations to Berkeley's Writing Center on such a historic recognition!

For further information on the NCPTW, please visit the below websites. 

http://brandtom.wix.com/ncptw-2013
http://writingcenters.org/

Literary Character Day 2013

Literary Character Day

Our literary heroes


Once again, the writing center celebrated literary character day, an occasion marked by tutors and students dressing up as their favorite characters, symbols, and themes from literature.

The winning ensemble group was a collection of characters from Alice in Wonderland.  Other ensembles featured Les Miserables and Winnie the Pooh.

Some quotes from the participants:  "It was exciting to dress up with all of my friends from one of our favorite books--Twilight."

"I was excited that more people dressed up than last year, and it wa so fun to see everyone's creative costumes and to play literary trivia!"

Be Sure to "Like" the Writing Center on Facebook

The Writing Center is becoming more well known with people visiting our blog from the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany and the Philippines. Who are they? Why are they viewing our blog? Join the rest of the world and you too can follow us on our blog or like us on Facebook. Keep up with what's going on in the Writing Center and share with your friends. Here's the link!

https://www.facebook.com/BerkeleyPreparatorySchoolWritingCenter?ref=hl

What Our Tutees Are Saying

“I was really nervous about going to the writing center at first, but when the tutors welcomed me in it made me feel right at home. My tutor explained how to write a thesis in a way I could understand which made writing my paper so much easier. I look forward to going back for more help.” – Jess LoNigro 

500 Tutorials! What are the Tutors Saying?

In celebration of reaching 500 tutorials!

A Word from the Tutors:

"We've reached a great milestone, and I'm glad to have been a part of it. Let's go for 800!" - Ben Root

"We as tutors are lucky to be part of something so rewarding. If we have already reached 500 tutorials, I don't see why we can't double this number by the end of the year." - Taylor Coutroulis

"I feel like the writing center is giving people confidence now. The 500th tutorial shows that the writing center is  a welcoming place." - Bryn Braswell

"At a school with 565 students in the Upper Division, it's wonderful that we've been able to reach 500 tutorials in just over a semester. This is a true indicator of the impact the Writing Center has on the student body." - Megan Magray

 

(Ben, Bryn, and Taylor)

Academy Prep Comes to BPS

Academy Prep Spring 2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our tutors meeting with sixth and seventh graders from Academy Prep

 

 

 

 

 

What's the Word? Tutors Talk!

"Writing Center tutors work with Academy Prep students to capture sticky sweet pancakes in couplets or memories of visiting the Hello Kitty Store in free form poetry, encouraging sensory description, fluidity, and rhyme. Academy Prep student’s creativity flows onto paper while our tutors are amazed by their creations." - Elizabeth King

Still figuring out why this image won't rotate

Tutee Raffle

As a way to encourage more students to come into the writing center, the publicity committee has come up with a raffle. All the names of the students from the upper division who visit the writing center to be tutored in the month of February will be put in a hat and three will be drawn. Here's the list so far!  The winners will recieve gift cards! Spread the word and promote the Writing Center!

Middle Division--March is your month!

Berkeley Goes To Academy Prep!

Our tutors Kelley Sheets, Leigh Fountain, Cassandra Floch, Bryn Braswell, Nikki Potts, and Pooja Dave all took a trip over to Academy Prep to teach grades 5, 6, and 7 the fundamentals of poetry. Sets of 2 tutors worked with a group of children from each grade. The Berkeley students really love helping the children at Academy Prep. Kelley Sheets describes how rewarding it is, "I was really touched when a girl I tutored previously remembered my name and ran up to say Hi and give me a hug." Not only are the children at Academy Prep learning valuable English concepts, but they are also meeting great Berkeley students who have left lasting impressions on their lives.