Saving Significant Writing at Helena High

Friends-

Thank you for offering to speak on behalf of the writing program at Helena High School. As people who attended HHS and experienced the writing instruction we offer, we believe you have the most important insight about the value of the program, a program that appears to be under threat one more time.

While we’d appreciate any perspective you have to offer, a few key points you may not have known or may not remember from your time at HHS are worth mentioning. Since 1994, our approach has been centered on “process writing,” in which students complete multiple drafts of essays, relying on teacher feedback to improve the paper and develop writing skills.

The best pieces of evidence you can offer in support of the program are your memories about how you grew as a writer, how well-prepared you felt in college, and how the writing program at HHS is still relevant to your career, if applicable. And while I won’t circle anything with a red pen or write “AWK” anywhere on your comment, making sure it’s well-written certainly won’t hurt.

We’d love to know where you are now (college/job/military/etc.) and how writing is an important part of your life today.

A paragraph or two should certainly suffice. If you’d prefer to share via e-mail or a Word document, feel free to send your response to me at dpogreba@gmail.com.

Thank you so much for your time, and we hope you’ll feel free to send this to other former students.

Thank you,

Mr. Pogreba and the HHS English teachers

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