Five Major Reasons Why Our Programs Are Successful

Learning is Fun

It’s prosaic, but true: we make reading and writing fun and relevant to each student. Our writers inspire others to love to write. Their passion transforms what students perceive as a duty into something more personal and self-motivating.    

We Center on the Student

We move student-ideas to the center of learning. Students are like everybody else--they love to talk about themselves. Since their ideas generate the body of work, students become invested, sometimes for the first time, in the success of their writing. The peer-workshop method takes things one step further by capitalizing on students’ innate need to be accepted and perform well in front of their peers. Students read each other’s work and comment aloud to help each other. They explain what worked for them as readers and what didn’t. The WITS instructor, working in tandem with the teacher, guides students into understanding the link between a peer’s comment and a solution.

Students Learn with Dignity

Peer critiquing generates an atmosphere that emphasizes “effective” communication over “good” or “bad,” allowing students to learn with dignity.  Writers understand almost instinctively what makes effective writing and can see the strengths in each student’s work while being sensitive to their developing egos.

We Emphasize Revision

Good writing is crafted, not discovered in a single attempt. So, nearly every WITS instructor focuses on the importance of revision. They use the revision process as a source for studying grammar, rhetorical techniques, organization, syntax, spelling, and more. Suddenly abstract notions of grammar have direct and relevant impact on the success of a student’s work.

Mark Twain once wrote, “The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter—it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” We’ve seen students have that “Aha!” moment when they understand how the words they write matter.

WITS Teachers Provide Relevance

We provide easy, accessible, and excellent contemporary models written by Texas writers who speak a language that students understand.