Starting in January, the Eyre Writing Center (pronounced \u201cair\u201d) will offer a series of writing classes and drop-in sessions for middle school and high school students.
\nEWC will hold its Saratoga-based classes downtown at Saratoga CoWorks, 153 Regent St. Its winter\/spring term is comprised of two classes: Intro to Writing for students from ages 10-14, and Expos for students from ages 15-18. The courses will start on Jan. 23 and 25, respectively. Classes will also be offered at a second location in Latham.
\nJane Chen founded EWC based on the premise that strong writing skills serve as the bedrock for becoming strong thinkers. She said the mission of EWC is to instill the building blocks of good writing early on in students\u2019 lives.
\nChen\u2019s professional background did not stem from education. Since graduating from Harvard College cum laude in history with a minor in economics, she has been an investment analyst on Wall Street and in Europe.
\nBut education has always been her passion. Over the last decade, Chen has worked with students on a pro bono basis and has donated to many educational causes. However, it was only in 2018, when a former student berated her for not starting writing courses of her own, that the idea of a school dedicated to writing popped into her head.
\n\u201cMy student told me it was \u2018practically criminal\u2019 that I kept my course packs largely to myself,\u201d said Chen. \u201cI was very hesitant to only teach writing because I believed it to be too much of a niche, and I dilly dallied for a year. Finally, I opened up my Filofax and circled the first month in 2020. I promised myself that in January, I will start my writing center.\u201d
\nShe named it the Eyre Writing Center, as she herself was named after the character Jane Eyre.
\nThere was another problem. Writing is not a \u201cscalable\u201d business model.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve seen academies down in New York City pack 30, even 40, students into a math class. It can be done because at the end of the day, you can grade a calculus test fairly quickly. The answer is either right or wrong,\u201d said Chen. \u201cWriting is too subjective. It\u2019s highly personalized for every student because we write how we think, and we all think differently.\u201d
\nShe said the core question then that EWC aims to solve is: how can we design a curriculum that \u201cscales up\u201d writing? How can we still offer highly personalized attention to our students in a classroom setting?
\nChen\u2019s solution is in her curricula.
\nShe has arranged her Intro to Writing curriculum such that the classes would carefully balance general coursework with individualized time between each student and the instructor. For her Expos class, based on Harvard\u2019s mandatory writing seminars focused on expository essay writing, she will be offering virtual one-on-one office hours with vetted instructors on top of weekly classes so that students can drop in to have any piece of written work reviewed.
\nThe other key aspect of EWC is affordability
\n\u201cThe EWC business model has gone through many different iterations,\u201d said Chen. \u201cPricey one-on-one tutoring session would be more profitable and far less of a time commitment. But that\u2019s not the model I envision for EWC. It must be accessible for all families.\u201d
\nEWC will hold an open house for Intro to Writing at 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23. The open house for Expos will be at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25. Both will take place at 153 Regent St. All are welcome to attend. Registration will be finalized at the start of the second class the following week.
\nProspective students and parents can book online at www.eyrewritingcenter.com\/courses. Chen can be reached at jane@eyrewritingcenter.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Starting in January, the Eyre Writing Center (pronounced \u201cair\u201d) will offer a series of writing classes and drop-in sessions for middle school and high school students. EWC will hold its Saratoga-based classes downtown at Saratoga CoWorks, 153 Regent St. Its winter\/spring term is comprised of two classes: Intro to Writing for students from ages 10-14, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-news"],"yoast_head":"\r\n