Legendary TEachers: Mr. Pape
By mary JOens and Brianna burke
Walking into the Writing Center, I was greeted with a sight of happy chaos. There were about five tutors in the room, each conferencing with a student (with more waiting for a tutor to be available). I had to wait to talk to Mr. Pape, as he was diligently working with four or five students about college essays, Separate Peace/Lord of the Flies essays, and more. Eventually, I got to sit down and ask Mr. Pape a few questions. Within the first few minutes I came to find that his favorite color is orange (reason cited: it’s the new black), his favorite animals are dogs (specifically corgis), and Creative Writing is his favorite class to teach – so much so that he would do it for free.
- “What’s your favorite part of being a teacher?”
- “Watching kids develop over the course of a year as thinkers and writers”
- “How long have you been at the regional?”
- “Since 2001, you do the math” (He’s the sassiest).
- “What inspired you to start the Writing Center?”
- “Looking back, the FROSH experience helped me recognize that upperclassmen need to take on greater responsibilities and also have to deal with more freedom. That was the first part. The second part is that they’re a valuable resource in developing writing; kids feel comfortable going to tutors (more so than teachers sometimes). What I do now, I’ve seen informally for years…older students helping younger students, siblings helping each other. It seemed like a natural way to incorporate this into the curriculum.”
- “What do you envision as the future of the Writing Center?”
- “That it continues to exist. I would like to see this become a valuable resource to elementary schools and the middle school. And that the outreach of the writing center continues to grow into the local community - helping octogenarians work on their memoirs, and even into countries where English is not the first language.”
- “How do you envision the international outreach happening?”
- “It’s still in the planning stages, but I’ve talked with Ms. Sano and I would love to have our tutors help ELL students in the countries our school has visited. The challenge, of course, is our technological base. So, once we address that issue, we can move forward.”
- “What do you look for in Writing Center tutors?”
- “I like having a great variety of kids as tutors. They don’t necessarily have to be honors students, but would need to be capable of being helpful. If a tutor is uncomfortable working with upperclassmen or honors students or on research papers, there are many other ways they can be helpful. But a variety is key.”
- “Other thoughts?”
- “I’m considering incorporating my work at the writing center into my doctoral studies at UMass Lowell.”