What is the Writing Center?

The Edison Writing Center is a service based on college models of student-led writing tutorial sessions offered to all students and teachers in the Edison High School community. Our skilled tutors have been trained extensively to offer one-on-one tutoring sessions on writing assignments for any class offered at Edison, writing requirements for the IB Diploma Programme, college application essays, resumes, SAT essays, and any other writing a student may want help with. The tutors, in their first years, write papers that detail writing in specific subjects which they, once they are second or third year tutors, turn into workshops. This has allowed the EWC to now offer services such as Digi Tutoring, Rent-A-Tutor, and those assignment specific workshops along with, of course, regular tutoring sessions.

What Kinds of Services Do We Offer?

Regular Tutoring Sessions:
The Writing Center is available for regular tutoring sessions during Eagle Time, Lunches, and After School as listed below. The benefit of these sessions is that students can work one-on-one with our experienced and specially trained tutors to get immediate advice.

Digital Tutoring:
The Writing Center is only available for this online form of tutoring for entire classes of student’s, upon a teacher’s request to Ms. Dent. The benefit of digital tutoring is that students can work with our tutors at any time of the day and our tutors have the ability to give more in-depth feedback than during regular face-to-face sessions.
Available only upon teacher’s request.

Rent-A-Tutor:
The Writing Center is available for Rent-A-Tutor sessions for entire classes of student’s during Eagle Time, 1st Block (Day 1), 2nd Block (Day 1), and 3rd Block (Days 1 & 2), upon a teacher’s request to Ms. Dent. The benefit of Rent-A-Tutor sessions is that students can work one-on-one with our tutors to get immediate advice, in a method most similar to traditional tutoring sessions. Furthermore, Rent-A-Tutor allows tutors to work with all students.
Available only upon teacher’s request.

Workshops:
The Writing Center is available for workshops during Eagle Time, 1st Block (Day 1), 2nd Block (Day 1), and 3rd Block (Days 1 & 2), upon a teacher’s request to Ms. Dent. The benefit of workshops are that they serve as tailored lessons specific to assignments that can be reused later. Furthermore, workshops are usually followed by individual interaction between tutors and students to not only enhance the understanding of the workshop, but also give specific advice.
Available only upon teacher’s request.

How Does the Process Work?

1. Make an appointment. Sign up at the bulletin board next to the writing center (Room C-215) for the tutor that you would like to meet with. 

2. Fill out the cover sheet before the conference. These are available next to the sign-up sheet on our bulletin board, but if you forgot to pick one up when you signed up, please fill one out while you wait for your conference.

3. Bring the necessary materials. Your tutor will be able to help you best if you have the following:

• Assignment Sheet
• Assignment
• Grading Rubric

4. Have your conference. This when you can meet with a tutor, one-on-one, for approximately 20 minutes. In this time, the tutor will work with you and focus on the priorities indicated on your cover sheet. The tutor will give you feedback that will improve your writing not only based on the criteria you indicated, but also as a whole, with the ultimate goal of helping you become a better writer.

5. Get the signature! The tutor’s signature on your cover sheet proves that you came to the EWC for help with your assignment. Afterward, you should spend more time improving your assignment at home.

6. Turn in your completed assignment.

Contact Us

• Send us an email!
• Read about us on our blog!
• See our pictures on Instagram! 
• Follow us for daily updates on Twitter!
• Like our page on Facebook!
• Watch our videos on YouTube!
• Listen to us on SoundCloud!
• Or (best of all), • Visit us in-person in Room C-215!

Don’t forget to check out CAPTA!

Notable Achievements

Investing in Leadership: Student-Run Writing Centers

• In this video by the Northern Virginia Writing Project, the focus is on how student-run writing centers can facilitate leadership in administrators, teachers, and students. It also delves into how the Northern Virginia Writing Project supports writing centers in their creation of these centers of leadership development.

Local High School Takes Peer Tutoring To Another Level

• This is an article and radio episode by American University Radio from March 2010 about the innovation in the Edison Writing Center. It highlights the forward-thinking nature of the writing center’s director while also explaining how students are given the opportunity to participate in leadership roles by being tutors.