Renee Brown is the founding-director of the Peters Township Middle School Writing Center in Pittsburgh, PA. She serves as the Middle School Representative of SSWCA.
Susan Frenck is the founding-director of the Irving Middle School Writing Center in Springfield, PA, and of the Robinson Secondary School Writing Center in Fairfax, VA. She serves as the Treasurer of SSWCA.
Last December three eighth grade tutors from the Washington Irving Middle School Writing Center (Springfield, VA) and a ninth grader from Peters Township High School (Pittsburgh, PA) gave Snapshot presentations at CAPTA 2017: People, Passion, Purpose. The 2017 conference run by CAPTA (now SSWCA) was the first to include Snapshot sessions: 5-10 minute presentations designed as space for middle school students to share their experiences. These tutors were the youngest ever to present at a SSWCA conference.
We asked the middle school presenters to reflect on their experiences, from proposal to presentation. We hope that sharing their responses will encourage other middle school students to present at SSWCA conferences in the future. With a 2018 theme of “Process and Progress,” the SSWCA board invites current 7th and 8th grade students to examine the processes they are using and progress they are making in their centers to propose Snapshot presentations for our November 2018 conference.
Annie and Jessica: Irving MS
How did you select the topic of your Snapshot presentation?
Our topic was “The Benefits of Minimalist Tutoring.” We got the idea after we were trained to do Minimalist Tutoring/this topic. The topic became extremely helpful while we were tutoring students, so we thought it would be a good idea to do it as our presentation.
What did you do to complete your presentation proposal?
First, we went over the guidelines with our teachers/the writing center directors. Second, we finalized our topic for the Snapshot. Third, we submitted the proposal, and our proposal was accepted by the CAPTA board members.
How did prepare your presentation?
To prepare our presentation we did a rough draft, so we could see what we wanted to do out in front of us. We stayed after school to get help from the writing center directors on what to put on the final slides. Finally, a week before the presentation and the day before the presentation we stayed after and did a practice run through with the directors.
What was it like on the day of the conference and when you presented? Did anything surprise you?
Since we are middle schoolers we were really nervous and anxious to present since we were presenting in front of high schoolers. They were all extremely supportive, and they even gave us positive feedback which has helped improve our writing center. It ended up not being as bad we thought and was actually quite easy once we got started.
Was presenting a good experience?
We enjoyed presenting a lot! It helped grow our confidence in presenting. People were really nice and supportive. It was overall an amazing experience!
What advice do you have for other middle school students who would like to present?
Don’t be nervous! Everyone will encourage you, and once you get up there and start talking things become super easy. Don’t worry about messing up because we are all human and we make mistakes. It’s completely normal. It is an experience of a life time, and you’ll enjoy it a lot.
Kyle from Peters HS
You’re in 9th grade now. Why did you propose a Snapshot presentation, which is only for middle schoolers?
I presented as a 9th grader, but I wrote my proposal while in 8th grade, and the information in my presentation was based on my 8th grade experience as a tutor.
How did you select the topic for your Snapshot presentation?
For the CAPTA conference in 2017, I presented a Snapshot presentation on how to tutor close friends of yours without hurting them or being too hard. Coming up with the topic was not difficult, but I discussed it with Mrs. Brown, my teacher at the time, who helped me decide what I should create my presentation on. In our writing center, we kept journals of all the students we worked with throughout the year, which included their name, grade, and what they were working on. This helped create my topic because I was able to see who I worked with and who returned time after time to get more help. We worked on figuring out my topic and beginning to create my presentation for about 2 weeks.
How did you prepare to present?
I was nervous at first, but I practiced with other tutors and teachers at my school that were presenting and got feedback from them. Practicing helped release my nerves and getting feedback helped me create a stronger presentation.
What was it like to present at the conference?
I loved presenting and getting to talk about what I love to do – write and help others and teach others how I do it. When I presented, there were about 20-25 people in the room, adults and students. They all were supportive and asked good questions to help me get more information in.
What did you enjoy about the conference, both as a presenter and as an attendee?
This was such a wonderful experience because not only did I get to hear others present and learn more to bring back to the writing center, but I got to help others experience the same thing. Everyone had such different topics, so you got a variety of new information every time. Going as an 8th/9th grader gives you so many benefits. You learn new ways to improve your writing center and tutoring style that you can use for the next 3-4 years of your high school career.