Knightly News

From our seats at the keynote address for the Secondary Schools Writing Center Association conference, we marveled at the Utah Y Mountain on full display through the window. Amidst this spectacular backdrop, University of Connecticut Writing Center Director and English Professor, Dr. Tom Deans, invited us to look at how simple punctuation could change a passage’s meaning, voice and emphasis on certain ideas. The theme of the conference, “Views From the Trail” fit the physical setting pretty perfectly. Tiffany Whitehead, Middle and Upper School Library Director, and I, along with two 11th grade Fellows, Maeve Dolan and Mattie Ray, traveled to Provo, UT, in March to engage with the craft of teaching and tutoring writing. We filled our notebooks full of ideas to try at our own Episcopal Academic Resource Center and successfully presented two sessions while there!

Secondary writing and peer tutoring centers are not the norm but are becoming more and more prevalent around the country, especially in top-notch schools that wish to emphasize student leadership and a culture of support. The Episcopal ARC began as a writing center, modeled on university writing centers, over a decade ago. Following a trend many centers have adopted, we embraced all subjects, expanding to a full learning center in 2022. Our high school tutors, or “Fellows,” follow the same philosophy and training no matter the subject they specialize in. Learning centers work best when they are student-led. Not only do the student Fellows staff the center, but they, too, are trained to put their client in the driver’s seat of learning. Rather than a top-down, instructive approach, Fellows are guides and mentors who can help steer their clients toward greater understanding and self-discovery.

At the conference, Maeve and Mattie presented a session called “Tools for the Trail: Blending Tutor-Created and AI Resources” where they highlighted our school’s approach to AI in the learning process and tutoring scenarios. They shared our center’s philosophy of balance, which is that sometimes Fellows will use Magic School to create materials for students who are looking for extra practice on a skill and sometimes they will pull from our homemade resources. Maeve and Mattie showcased our “one-pager toolkit documents” that Fellows have been building for about a year. To produce these one-pagers, Fellows select skills ranging from MLA in-text citations to factoring polynomials to scientific notation and interview teachers about how their students might struggle with a certain topic. After further research, Fellows create handouts for any student or Fellow to reference when they need a little extra explanation or practice. All Middle and Upper School students can access these resources on the ARC Canvas page!

Tiffany Whitehead and I presented a session called “Together on the Trail: The Learning Center & Library in Collaboration for Stronger Student Writers.” Since the ARC’s relocation to the library, we have been able to team up on many different projects to support student research and writing. In our session, we outlined several recent collaborations from the annual 9th grade English and History Research Paper to more recent 5th and 6th grade writing support. We fielded many questions from our audience of directors and teachers who are interested in building on the partnership we have established here at Episcopal between the library, ARC and faculty.

The SSWCA conference allowed us to learn from other schools and reaffirmed that we are well on our way to realizing the full potential for student excellence in the Academic Resource Center!

As we approach final exams, students are encouraged to use the ARC in their study periods or during Flex/Office Hours where they can work through a tricky skill, receive advice on a paper or study for an upcoming assessment. Students can access the appointment link on the Canvas page or use this direct link.

The Episcopal School of Baton Rouge 2025-2026 application is now available! ​For more information on the application process, to schedule a tour, or learn more about the private school, contact us at [email protected] or 225-755-2685.