To improve the writing ability of BNI students, two English teachers founded and opened the Bishop Noll Writing Center this school year. Modeled after college writing centers, where peer tutors help others revise their work, it is the only writing center registered at the high school level in the state of Indiana, according to the International Writing Centers Association.
"The best way to improve anything is through practice and growth," said co-founder Rose Mullaney, a 2011 graduate of Bishop Noll. "We decided what could really help our students would be to look at their writing as a revision process." In fact, the motto of the Writing Center is "Growth through Revision."
Co-founder Mariann Laird gained even more insight into how to run the Writing Center when she attended the International Writing Association Conference. She said it was fascinating to learn "how to get the kids to embrace the idea of the writing center. How it can become the culture of the school and improves students' ability to write."
The BNI Writing Center is run through trained student tutors who offer consultation and feedback to any student who schedules a time to come in for help. Tutors went through training at Bishop Noll and took field trips to Lewis University and DePaul University to see college writing centers in action.
"It was a neat experience for our students who had never heard of a writing center," Laird said.
The teachers agree they want to offer BNI students many opportunities to become confident writers, and the Writing Lab is helping them not only with school assignments, but with scholarship essays and college applications. In its first year, they trained eight tutors and they said nearly 50 students made appointments and used the service this semester. They hope next year it will continue to grow and prepare Warriors for their bright futures. To learn more about attending Bishop Noll for the 2018-19 school year, please call (219) 932-9058 or e-mail admissions@bishopnoll.org.