Page 12 - FIS World May 2019

FIS Writing Center
The passion for writing has many faces at FIS
Peer writing coach, Florine (right) offers feedback on a draft from fellow student, Mishthi
Since 2010, the Upper School’s Writing Center has been helping students with written tasks, such as essays, or those who simply want to improve their writing skills. “We also see students seeking writing support for their college applications,” FIS Writing Center Coordinator Aodhnait Donnelly says. “About 30 students a week make appointments via our
online tool for meetings in our room.”
But there is more propelling the Writing Center: there’s a story club for Grade 6-8 students who have fun writing stories; a yearly essay contest for Grade 9-12 students; and a Reader’s and Writer’s Month for the Elementary and Upper School, which covers a range of activities like book character day, a poetry slam and mother tongue day. Three additional initiatives from the Writing Center are highlighted below.
The Well
The Well is a literary magazine produced each year by Upper School students. “We have four catego-
ries in our magazine: poetry, short stories, artwork and photography, and we accept works from stu- dents from all divisions, teachers and parents,” says Emma, a Grade 10 student and the magazine’s edi- tor-in-chief.“To help encourage submissions, we de- veloped a theme this year, ‘Lost & Found’, and added a competitive element, with Amazon vouchers for the top three winners in each category.”
“Another way we tried to boost submissions was via bake sales. Each person handing in a contribution received a baked good in return,” says Micah, who is in Grade 10 and is the magazine’s graphic designer.
“All in all, we received over 100 submissions, of which many will be included in our publication,”Micah con- tinues. “A majority of these were from teachers and Upper School students, but we also had the cutest submission from a Primary School girl who drew a comic about a sheep that did not like his haircut,” Emma adds. Micah concludes: “For each page, we try to use a different layout, and find the right com- bination of image and text. Right now it looks like
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