The Write Place is often seen in one of two ways: a place of helpful advice or somewhere English teachers require you to visit. Regardless of what lunch period one has, student tutors are always present to help students. There to help all (tutors and students alike) stands the newest Write Place Coordinator. Ms. Kristin Mattera has captivated the excitement of writing, teaching, and helping students into a space of positivity that imprints itself in its tutors and the tutored.
Ms. Mattera attended high school at Lockport Township and later obtained her undergrad and B.A in Secondary Education and English at Augustana College. She also received her Master’s in English Literature at The University of Missouri-Columbia with additional coursework at DePaul University in their Writing & Publishing program.
Before West, she worked as a full-time English teacher at Carl Sandburg High School, a high school in Orland Park, where she taught Sophomore English Honors, Dual Credit College Writing, & American Literature. Nevertheless, Ms. Mattera is not new to English tutoring. In an email with The Glen Bard, she writes, “at Sandburg, I also helped run The Literacy Lab (a.k.a. The Lit Lab), which was essentially their version of The Write Place and a busy English tutoring.
According to Ms. Mattera, one of the reasons for working at West was to be closer to her kids with whom she could not spend as much time with because of her teaching responsibilities. When asked what drives her work at The Write Place, she wrote, “I don’t necessarily have a guiding mantra or authorial muse for running The Write Place … [however] I do often think of a Ralph Waldo Emerson line much of the time when I interact with students or consider my own decisions: Trust thyself–every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
Ms. Mattera trusts herself; therefore, we trust her to do a great job as we welcome her to the Write Place and Glenbard West as a whole.
