WriterCoach Connection

Revving up for coaching at Richmond High!

The words "writer coaching" fill the air in Richmond with increasing frequency these days, as we scout for volunteers in the community to serve as writer coaches at Richmond High starting this fall.

It's not too soon to register for the two six-hour training sessions, each spread over two days, a week apart. The training will take place at Richmond High on May 30th and June 6th from noon to 3:00 pm, and on June 12th and 19th, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm.

We hope you'll raise your hand and join us in serving students and teachers at Richmond High this fall!

Bob Menzimer

Help Us Meet Our Annual Read-and-Write-a-thon Goal!

Asked to read a passage from your favorite book, what would you choose? Would you pick up a well-worn copy of Emily Dickinson? Cite from your latest book club find? Recall a childhood favorite like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or revisit the inspiring Gettsyburg Address?

On Saturday, May 19 from 8:00am-6:00pm at Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, coaches and students will gather for our fourth annual Read-and-Write-a-thon to celebrate writing, ideas, and community by reading from favorite works.

Sponsor Our Readers! >

The Read-and-Write-a-thon is the critical spring fundraiser that enables us to continue reach out to more and more students who are just beginning to realize the importance of making their voices heard. This year we have expanded the WCC program to twelve locations and the need for community support is as great as ever. Your contribution means more coaches working with more students, delivering writing and critical thinking skills they need for a successful future!

We also welcome you to share your passion for the written word by choosing your favorite piece of writing and joining us for the live event. Prepare to be inspired by new and familiar works, as well as challenged by a game of high-stakes Literary Jeopardy.

Please forward this to friends and relatives who might also be interested in our work—we are deeply grateful for your help and your efforts to support WriterCoach Connection!

Note: Donating online at FirstGiving is simple and secure. If you prefer to donate by check, please make it payable to CAFL and mail it to: CAFL, PO Box 6098, Albany, CA 94706. Please write RWAT on the check memo line. All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged with a written receipt. Tax I.D. #91-2144555.

Inexorable growth brings WCC to the doorstep of Richmond High

WriterCoach Connection hatched in spring 2001, breaking out of its shell at Berkeley High School with 35 community volunteers working with 180 students. From that modest beginning, we have grown!

Within two years of its birth at Berkeley High, WCC had spread its wings to cover all of the Berkeley middle schools, and the program has been growing slowly but steadily ever since. This year, more than 500 community volunteers trained as writer coaches are sitting side by side with more than 2,000 students at a dozen schools in four East Bay districts.

After spreading north to Albany in fall 2003 and south to Oakland in fall 2008, we crossed the border into West Contra Costa County last year, with a pilot program at El Cerrito High School. Since then, we have grown faster in West County than anywhere else, with an expanded program at El Cerrito High this year, a pilot program this spring at Portola Middle School in El Cerrito, and planning now under way for our first program in Richmond.

On the heels of the intense community interest that brought WCC to El Cerrito last year and has kept it there this year, it was the West County school district that generated the vision for WCC at Richmond High. At a meeting last December in his office, Superintendent  Bruce Harter announced that he wanted us at Richmond High, said he had identified the funding, and asked how quickly we could get it done. The answer was fall 2012, and we have been recruiting Richmond community volunteers ever since, with training sessions planned for later this spring and during the summer.

Our pilot program at Richmond High this fall will focus on English Language Development students in Level 4, the English fluency stage that immediately precedes a student's entry into mainstream classes. We project to serve about 150 students, and will need 60 coaches to work with them. If you'd like to be part of our first program in Richmond, contact Dave Moss at 510.233.3088.

We're excited to bring WriterCoach Connection to Richmond students and teachers at long last, a dozen years after the program's first peep at Berkeley High!

Bob Menzimer

Report from the coaching front lines

Coach Peter Geraghty, who works with students at both El Cerrito High School and at Berkeley High, reports regularly on his experiences with students, and his accounts offer a valuable view of what writer coaching is really like. Here is part of Peter's account from a coaching day last week:

"At BHS, on Thursday morning, I worked with students that I've worked with before and began to see some of the benefits of continuity.  I'm not claiming huge changes, but one student  I've now met about four or five times has become more and more open about the kind of hurt she has suffered in school. The teacher has given the class lots of room to vent and I've encouraged the student to write honestly about injustice.  She's begun to change from someone who was beaten down, felt kinda hopeless, to someone who wants to be heard; she's a little bit less afraid of failing, of getting in trouble and a little more comfortable with speaking up.  I really hope it sticks; this would give me the reason for volunteering." 

I'll recount more of Peter's coaching experiences as he continues to report on them.

Bob Menzimer

Helping West County students prepare for the future

On Saturday, March 17, we were pleased to host a series of workshops helping students articulate their identities through writing. The occasion was the Getting Ready for College and Career Conference, sponsored by the West Contra Costa Unified School District and held at DeJean Middle School in Richmond. A stalwart band of 24 WCC volunteers sat with small groups of students in each workshop, encouraging 8th grade students to write about the ideal high school to match their personal identities, and 9th and 10th grade students to formulate thoughts for Personal Statements for college and job applications.

Here's how it looked:

Above, WCC coach and El Cerrito High site coordinator Maureen Dixon encourages a group of 9th and 10th graders to articulate their identities in writing.

Above, WCC coach Sarah Allday makes the personal connection that is vital to our work with students.

Above, the magic of words on paper.

A resource fair followed the conference. Community Alliance for Learning associate director Lynn Mueller and board chair Kathy Kahn work the WCC table:

Another volunteer for WriterCoach Connection:

The West County school district was particularly delighted with the highly interactive WCC workshops at the conference. We look forward to returning for the 2013 event!

Bob Menzimer

Salesforce bolsters WriterCoach Connection data management

We're delighted to have been granted free access to the database program designed by Salesforce, widely used in both the nonprofit and for-profit communities for customer relationship management (CRM). 

The formibable Saleforce program enables sophisticated sales tracking, forecasting abilities, point-and-click customization, real-time analytics, instant collaboration, and other features. Donation of the software to Community Alliance for Learning will enable us at last to create a robust and flexible database for managing our rapidly expanding WriterCoach Connection volunteer and donor data.

Thank you, Salesforce!

Bob Menzimer

The magic of individual attention

Longfellow WCC site co-coordinator Mark Pasley has brought to our attention this moving story from CBS News, what Mark calls "...a perfect example of how approaching a student without judgement and giving them positive input about their strengths can have a real impact."

It's no surprise why this story reminded Mark of our work with students in WCC. Check it out!

 

Bob Menzimer

Every minute with a student counts!

Since the big education budget axe fell in Albany several years ago, Albany Middle School has not had funding for a full year of WriterCoach Connection. But the school administration and teachers have refused to lose their writer coaches completely, and have found a way to pay for a limited WCC program, serving every 8th grader in the school with writing support on their I-Search research projects for eight weeks in the spring. But never think that eight weeks of coaching, as opposed to 20, doesn't make a difference. Here is what some AMS 8th graders wrote to their coaches recently as they approached the end of their I-Search assignments:

"Thank you so much for helping me with a part of my I-Search. You really helped me improve my writing. Without your help, I wouldn't have done my best. I really appreciate you taking time from your day to help me out. Thanks for the help!" 

"Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with my I-Search! I appreciate your suggestions, reading through my writing patiently, and helping me spot grammar and spelling errors. I liked how you didn't have me read my work aloud and were very enthusiastic throughout our meetings. Thanks again!"

"Thank you so much for all the help. Thanks for helping me with every assignment. Without you my work wouldn't be as good. It was very fun to correct my work with you! Thanks again!"

"Thank you for helping me edit my media search paper and also my OSO [onsite observation]  paper. It really helped me get a better grade for my I-Search. THANK YOU!"

"Thank you for helping me edit my Media Search and OSO paper. I agree that it is nice to do a research project on a topic of my choice. It was nice to have someone to talk to about Alcatraz. Thank you again."

"Thank you so very much for all the great feedback you have given me. It really helped me get an awesome grade on my media search paper. I am so glad to have been able to work with such an experienced writer."

"Thanks a lot! I came later for the 8th grade, so I was really confused with all the I-Search stuff. You helped me a lot with these things. You helped me especially with the O.S.O. final draft. Thanks for the patient [sic] with me. I learned a lot with you .. One more time, THANK YOU!"

"Thanks for helping me make a better letter by helping brainstorm questions for each location I sent to. Sadly, I did not get a reply from any of the people I sent to, but it was still good experience for writing business letters. Thanks!"

"Thank you so much for helping me with everything! I am especially thankful for your help with the 'Letters to the Experts.' I really got some good ideas from you. I really enjoyed talking to you. THANK YOU."

"Thank you so much for all of your help with my I-Search. I thought that writer coaches would be boring, but you made it interesting. You reviewed my papers, and then we talked about fun things, like Portal, Las Vesas, and GTH. Thank you."

And from all of us, a big thank you to AMS site coordinator Peg Healy and her coaches for providing the expert support that generates these heartfelt expressions of appreciation!

Bob Menzimer

WriterCoach Connection at Berkeley High: teacher wants more!

We're planning the continuation of WCC for next year at Berkeley High's Green Academy, where we are coaching 12th grade students this year. Teacher Dagny Dingman is hoping we can expand writer coaching next year to include Green's 9th grade composition classes.

In the course of conversations about next year, Dagny had this to say about WCC:

"The program has been fabulous, has worked very well with my courses. The students have gotten a lot out of their work with coaches. Their writing has become more autonomous, less about me directing the writing process, and more about them being engaged in the writing process as it comes from them and from their work with people besides me. Their work therefore more accurately reflects what they'll be doing with their writing after high school, when they'll be more on their own. WCC also forces me to assign more writing, so the kids simply do more of it. We work on assignments longer, with more revisions. For the students, writing becomes less of an isolated activity, more of a constant exercise. WCC helps to demystify writing for my students."

We certainly hope to be back at Green next year, with writing support for students at Green Academy, and for Dagny and her teaching colleagues.

Bob Menzimer

At Mills College: more WriterCoach Connection volunteer recruiting

Oakland Volunteer Coordinator Karen Larson and her redoubtable band of volunteer recruiters were at it for the second time in three days on Monday, March 12, setting up shop at the Mills College Internship Fair. She and WCC volunteers Nick Keefe, Anne Steinberg, and Kent Wright attracted 15 signups from undergraduate and graduate students interested in WCC for this fall. Valuable outreach!

Here are Anne and Nick, ready for business:

 

Bob Menzimer