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CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School Opens Writing Center
(East Hartford, CT) A new writing center at CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School will allow students to improve their writing through peer-to-peer tutoring.The center, which is located in a corner of the school’s library, will be staffed by students under the supervision of teachers Ruth Macijauskas and David Jones. It will be open throughout each school day except for when standardized tests are administered, and the center will be open to all students and teachers as needed.
“The Two Rivers writing center demonstrates CREC Magnet Schools’ vision of teacher leadership and student-led learning,” said Sarah Fitzsimmons, CREC’s director of English language arts. “This project demonstrates two of CREC’s essential skills—communication and collaboration.”
The center opened April 6 after a dozen CREC students completed five months of intensive training, which taught them how to view the peer-to-peer tutoring as an interactive session—a conversation. The training was provided by three undergraduate students who are experienced tutors at the UConn Writing Center, and they met with the students weekly to discuss writing skills, the benefits of drafts and revisions, and tutoring strategies.
“We were trying to build a middle school version of what we do at the university,” said Tom Deans, the UConn Writing Center’s director.
CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School is not the first school in the state to work with the UConn Writing Center, but it is the only CREC school to do so. The center began offering outreach in Hartford in 2005, extending its reach to other schools in 2007. It partners with one school each year, and to date, the center has helped eight middle schools and high schools launch successful peer tutoring centers.
Schools are considered for the program if they have a teacher, such as Macijauskas, who participated in the Connecticut Writing Project’s Summer Institute. Travel distance from Storrs is also considered.
Now that CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School has fulfilled training requirements, the school is responsible for staffing the writing center and training new tutors. To sharpen their skills and collaborate with other students from throughout the state, CREC Two Rivers Magnet Middle School students will be invited to the UConn Writing Center’s annual October secondary school writing conference.
