Connect with us

Featured

UM DeSoto Collaboration Aims to Improve Middle School Writing

Published

on

Jeanine Rauch, writing center director at the UM DeSoto regional campus, instructs students at Hernando Middle School. Photo by Erin Garrett/University of Mississippi at DeSoto Center-Southaven

Writing center directors at Northwest Mississippi Community College and the University of Mississippi at DeSoto Center-Southaven recently collaborated with eighth-grade educators at Hernando Middle School to explore how writing centers can make an impact on students at any grade level.

During the last week of November, the directors gave mini-lessons on writing to encourage and inspire students at the middle school. Northwest Writing Center Director Jason Jones and Northwest Online Writing Center Director Daymon Kiliman spoke about drafting and the writing process, two skills that can be critical to both writing and broader research projects.

Josh Green, writing center director at Northwest DeSoto Center, and Jeanine Rauch, writing center director at the UM DeSoto regional campus, instructed students on the importance of audience and purpose, and how description in ones’ writing is important for the reader.

The writing center directors hope to initiate visits with other middle and high schools in north Mississippi, Green said. They also encourage schools to consider implementing their own center as part of this collaboration. Writing centers offer free services that are designed to help students become stronger writers and critical thinkers.

“A writing center adds so much to a school as it serves not only as a student support service, but it also models the practice of collaborative writing and revision that is critical at both the high school and college level,” Green said.

Tarra Taylor, eighth-grade English teacher at Hernando Middle School, remarked on the positivity that this type of collaboration brings to DeSoto County schools.

“I feel that other schools in the district could greatly benefit from partnering with writing centers at Northwest and the University of Mississippi,” Taylor said. “This partnership would provide instant professional development.

“As teachers, we seldom get the chance to observe other teachers, and this would provide that opportunity.”

Taylor also said that she would “love to see the implementation of a writing center at Hernando Middle School, as well as at other middle schools in DeSoto County.”

Jennifer Booher, also a Hernando Middle School eighth-grade English teacher, agreed that collaborating with the writing centers is valuable for her students.

“It exposes my students to the world of higher education possibilities,” Booher said. “This in-class instruction on the importance of writing and various writing skills reminds (students) how important writing skills are, and teaches me some new techniques that inspire me.”

Rauch hopes the collaboration will continue to grow and provide helpful resources for students and faculty at DeSoto County schools.

“The establishment of writing centers at the secondary and middle school level is something that will be beneficial to both students and teachers,” Rauch said. “The focus on writing as a process is critical to the advancement of writers and provides a unique student-to-student support system.”

For more information about Northwest Mississippi Community College Writing Centers, visit http://northwestms.edu/. For more information about the University of Mississippi at DeSoto Center-Southaven Writing Center, visit http://www.outreach.olemiss.edu/desoto/.


Staff Report

Sports Editor

Advertisement
2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Cynthia Kelley

    November 7, 2019 at 8:10 am

    Improving writing skills will not prevent any student, this is true. I work as a teacher and when it comes to essays, I find “masterpieces” which makes me feel scared. I even opened my blog https://haveringmotorvations.com/ where I post some Essay Samples for free. I hope this will be useful for children and their parents in checking homework-“masterpieces”.

  2. Lucy21

    February 21, 2020 at 4:56 am

    You can improve the process of writing an essay or other written work. If you are already reddit essay help it’s better to form on this site which will provide you with all the necessary information about best essay writing service reddit. This is just awesome. And you need to try this.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ole Miss Men’s Basketball

Mon, Nov 4Long Island University Logovs Long Island University W, 90-60
Fri, Nov 8Grambling Logovs GramblingW, 66-64
Tue, Nov 12South Alabama Logovs South AlabamaW, 64-54
Sat, Nov 16Colorado State Logovs Colorado StateW, 84-69
Thu, Nov 21Oral Roberts Logovs Oral RobertsL, 100-68
Thu, Nov 28BYU Logovs BYUW, 96-85 OT
Fri, Nov 29Purdue Logovs 13 PurdueL, 80-78
Tue, Dec 3Louisville Logo@ LouisvilleW, 86-63
Sat, Dec 7Lindenwood Logovs LindenwoodW, 86-53
Sat, Dec 14Georgia Logovs Southern MissW, 77-46
Tue, Dec 17Southern Logovs SouthernW, 74-61
Sat, Dec 21Queens University Logovs Queens UniversityW, 80-62
Sat, Dec 28Memphis Logo@ MemphisL, 87-70
Sat, Jan 4Georgia Logovs GeorgiaW, 63-51
Wed, Jan 8Arkansas Logo@ 23 ArkansasW, 73-66
Sat, Jan 11LSU Logovs LSUW, 77-65
Tue, Jan 14Alabama Logo@ 5 AlabamaW, 74-64
Sat, Jan 18Mississippi State Logo@ 17 Mississippi StateL, 81-84
Wed, Jan 22Texas A&M State Logovs 13 Texas A&ML, 62-63
Sat, Jan 25Missouri Logo@ MissouriL, 83-75
Wed, Jan 29Texas Logovs TexasW, 72-69
Sat, Feb 1Auburn Logovs 2 AuburnL, 92-82
Tue, Feb 4Kentucky Logovs 10 KentuckyW, 98-84
Sat, Feb 8LSU Logo@ LSU7:30 PM
SECN
Wed, Feb 12South Carolina Logo@ South Carolina6:00 PM
SECN
Sat, Feb 15Mississippi State Logovs 17 Mississippi State5:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Feb 22Auburn Logo@ Vanderbilt2:30 PM
SECN
Wed, Feb 26Auburn Logo@ 2 Auburn6:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Mar 1Oklahoma Logovs 12 Oklahoma1:00 PM
TBA
Wed, Mar 5Tennessee Logovs 1 Tennessee8:00 PM
TBA
Sat, Mar 8Florida Logo@ 6 Florida5:00 PM
SECN

@ COPYRIGHT 2024 BY HT MEDIA LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. HOTTYTODDY.COM IS AN INDEPENT DIGITAL ENTITY NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI.