Writing Lab
The Sydney Lauren Tabakin Writing Lab at Homestead High School promotes writing excellence across the curriculum for all students. Historically known as the ISWAC lab, which stood for “Improve Student Writing Across the Curriculum," our lab encourages all content area staff members to confidently assign writing with the understanding that students can further hone their skills and receive meaningful feedback by visiting and working one-on-one with an English teacher.
Homestead’s Writing Lab directly influences students in attaining their goals, allowing them to engage in a conference at any point in the writing process: prompt analysis, planning, drafting, editing, or proofreading. Many students visit the for a creative sounding-board, others to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and all to access a new perspective. Homestead students in every level of course make use of this opportunity.
Supported financially by the Tabakin family for many years and now funded by MTEF, the lab is now called the Sydney Lauren Tabakin Writing Lab as a memorial for a beloved student whose college essay hangs in the lab in honor of her life. We edit hundreds of college essays every year, marking a profoundly important value of the service provided. The Writing Lab provides students with a sense of confidence based on dailoge with the lab teacher who will offer input and advice about phrasing, content, and style.
Upon entering college or the workforce, Homestead graduates often report that their writing skills are superior to their counterparts, a testament not only to the overall work of Homestead teachers but also to access to a writing lab.
Students with papers from an English class or from across the curriculum may visit the in-person lab, located in I Zone 1, our school library. In some cases, students may ask a teacher about the possibility of going to the lab during class. The after-school lab is also open Monday through Thursday. If a student has senior privilege during 1st or 5th hour and wants to visit the writing lab, they can arrange the visit through Mr. Tony Navarre at anavarre@mtsd.k12.wi.us