WriterCoach Connection

My AHA Moment

In my first year as a volunteer writer coach at El Cerrito High School, I learned a lot about what my role was and why it was called “WriterCoach Connection.” I had been a newspaper reporter at one point in my career and many of my various jobs involved writing, so I feel very strongly that students should know how to write.

The first two students I worked with were both seniors. Fran wanted to be a police officer and had spent many hours working with the El Cerrito Police Department as a volunteer. She often used her desire to launch a law enforcement career as the basis for her classroom assignments. She wrote about the challenge she faces convincing her family — who emigrated within the last three years from Iran — that police work is a reasonable job for a woman. Fran was worried about whether her writing skills were strong enough to pass the exam for police officer, but that wasn’t enough to motivate her to attend class regularly.

My other student said at the outset that he wants to be an engineer. His writing skills were weak and our first assignment — write about someone you studied about — was an eye opener for both of us. He wrote a fairly eloquent essay about his friend who he studied WITH. I could see the light come on after we discussed the difference in those two little words: about and with. We outlined an essay that would respond correctly to the prompt and he wrote about Barack Obama. I think the teacher said it was the first (and maybe the last) assignment he submitted in that class. He got a B. He was often absent as well.

I realized that my interaction with them was less about the actual writing than the talking through of the assignment and maybe even thinking about some long-range life goals. Still, I wasn’t completely sold but felt somewhat encouraged when another Writer Coach pointed out to me that one adult can make a real difference to these students. I knew that, but I had to hear it again. I know that we serve a real purpose even when we just listen and help organize their thoughts.

The next semester, I had one student who had been in the U.S. for less than two months. He spoke virtually no English and the young woman who “interpreted” for him had minimal English skills herself. He did write an essay based on notes I took for him about whether high school students should have curfews. And when we went over the teacher’s comments, trying to clarify some of what he wrote, at one point he said, “Let me try to fix.” And what he suggested did make the sentence clearer.

Fowzia, who was a freshman, was very bright, verbal and mature. She was a little slapdash and acknowledged that she didn’t read her essays after she wrote them. But the essay she wrote about curfews — after we looked up the word in the dictionary — earned her recognition from her classmates when she “won” a debate using what she had written.

Working as a writer coach hasn’t offered me one aha moment, but any number of subtle indications that the students are engaging and finding my time with them worthwhile. I’ll be going back for a fourth year this fall.

Julie Freestone

Waking up the Weary in the Fight for Student “Writes”

By Terri Lynn Sullivan
El Cerrito Recruitment Coordinator

For months, it was like pulling teeth just to get my coaching student to put pencil to paper and begin any essay prose. Caught in the throes of middle school madness, brilliant yet detached ideas would land on his brainstorming sheet.  This would be accompanied by the proverbial pencil tapping yawn, while dreams of the video game that kept him up too late wiggled his weary mind.

 Although the praiseworthy tactics of praise, question and wish worked wonders---yes! Someone says I can do this! ---the transition from pre-common core script about personal experience to the more sophisticated writing based on what he read, proved a daunting task. When asked if he will enter the upcoming Young Authors Writing Contest, he quickly shook his head “no”, intimidated by the mere thought.

But this seemed to come to an end, when his teacher came up with an idea more brilliant than those written onto the struggling writer’s template.  She turned the student’s next assignment into that writing contest! Suddenly, my weary wanderer was propelled into the limelight, whether he wanted to be or not. 

And what came next was a bit of a marvel. No pencil tapping, but rather….sheer enthusiasm! Inadvertently, his teacher had engaged, inspired and encouraged her students to write.  He was able to choose a topic that resonated well with him, his “Dream Career”. Now, a chance to write a more personal or narrative essay which is not so “academic” within his middle school mentality. Something he is passionate, experienced and has opinions about. His favorite sport, turned into a career!

For the first time, we actually got to a point where I could truly hear his voice on paper, rather than mere stifled words on a worksheet.  I told him that no matter what his dream career, he will need to know how to write.  Colleagues and clients expect clear communications, patrons need feedback.  If he makes it into the NBA, his loyal fans will write to him. And finally, I reiterated that he, a bright kid has a right to write!

To that, he answered “I never knew writing could be so valuable to me!” After the task of writing was connected to his innermost passion….we are talking about a kid likely to have his basketball in his backpack…the task of writing in school had been awakened.  

I then remembered that silence is productive. After asking him to jot down ideas on how he might attain this career, I sat quietly filling out his worksheet. His pencil moved smoothly across the page, dancing from one idea to the next.  It was a slow dance…yet not a stagnant tap dance! The pencil remained in motion, the ideas connected rhythmically to the thesis.

Since the new Common Core Standards emphasize writing across every discipline, it is essential to enlighten students to the value of amplifying their voices on paper.  To draw out the wonderment that lies within.  As Lucy Calkins, Founding Director of the Reading and Writing Project stated, “It’s a wake-up call that writing is important!”

The writing contest presented by the Bay Area Book Festival was the perfect carrot to dangle in front of my student, giving him an incentive to write.  It gives hope in getting students to turn in assignments, in the end raising academic confidence.  Now that is something to tap dance about!

 

Writing Your Way to Happiness

Writing Your Way to Happiness
By Tara Parker-Pope
New York Times
January 19, 2015

The scientific research on the benefits of so-called expressive writing is surprisingly vast. Studies have shown that writing about oneself and personal experiences can improve mood disorders, help reduce symptoms among cancer patients, improve a person’s health after a heart attack, reduce doctor visits and even boost memory...

What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades

What’s Lost as Handwriting Fades

By Maria Konnikova
New York Times
6/2/2014

Even as the emphasis shifts to the keyboard, experts say that learning to write by hand improves motor skills, memory and creativity.

Putting Students' Voices First

Susanne Eneya
Berkeley/Albany Volunteer Coordinator

While reading this recent amusing New York Times article, "But I Want To Do Your Homework: Helping Kids With Their Homework," I couldn’t help but be reminded of the tendency I sometimes observe in our coaches to correct their students’ papers, or impose their own ideas, rather than meet their students where they are. I've seen how feelings of superiority and inadequacy can cause the best of intentions to go awry.

Last year, while debriefing anxious new coaches after their first few sessions with students, I often offered this advice: If you find yourself doing most of the talking or desperately trying to figure out what to do or say next, redirect your attention away from yourself (this isn't about you) and engage the student by asking them questions and really listening to their responses.

I’ve discovered that if I can get students to go beyond "sound bites" by encouraging them to more thoughtfully express their opinions and feelings (without my judging them), they begin to take pride in their own ideas. Then I ask them to write a few sentences about what we discussed while I remain quiet and fill out the coach worksheet. Depending upon where we are in the session, I make sure there is enough time for them to read aloud to me what they have just written; there is always at least a nugget or two from which to build and sometimes their words bring me to tears! When students feel proud of their own voices, they leave encouraged and inspired to continue to work on the assignment. And my heart is full.

WCC’s emphasis on encouraging and helping our students to build confidence and competence in their thinking and writing skills is, for me, the antithesis of the hovering “helicopter parent” as described in this article.

Jana Haertl: So How do You Measure Success?

from Jana Haertl's blog Tangled Up In Life Unfolding

"Success is not necessarily the perfect essay or even a job well done. Sometimes it’s just showing up on Wednesdays."

“School sucks, but I always try to come on Wednesdays…”   That flaky statement sounds nothing like a measure of success, yet oddly for me it signifies a touching consummation and a surprising triumph of this past school year.

***

Summer vacation doesn’t mean much any more to an empty nester like me, but last August as my football coach was ramping up for another season and the summer days were waning, I found myself contemplating what I should do when school starts. It’s compulsive. Years of being one of those semi-annoying moms always flitting around their kids’ schools – planning carnivals, PTA-ing, room mothering, raising Ed Funds, and attending every school event – is so engrained in my psyche that I feel a wistful void when the first day of school rolls around. One balmy morning last summer with September lurking behind the fence, I was trying to enjoy my coffee-newspaper-beach-read routine in the backyard as sunlight filtered through the ivy leaves dangling lazily on the trellis overhead. Unadulterated relaxation – nothing to do, not a care in the world. Yet discontent and restlessness hung about, sure as the ivy leaves that would be dead and falling around me in a month or two. It seems I can only appreciate that free-as-a-bird feeling when I’ve accomplished something or have a worthwhile focus, and I instead was feeling adrift, pointless, unsettled – anything but relaxed. Listlessly scanning the newspaper, one headline suddenly buzzed my trigger words: Writing Coach Project Seeks More Volunteers.

Turns out, the nonprofit Community Alliance for Learning was planning to expand their WriterCoach Connection, a program that brings volunteers into the schools to work with students on improving their comprehension, writing,  and critical thinking skills. The program began in Berkeley in 2001 and later expanded to Oakland, Albany, and West Contra Costa schools. Richmond High School welcomed WriterCoach Connection in the fall of 2012 and was hoping to expand the program for its second year with more volunteer coaches. Hmmm… writing, education and working with at-risk youths was an enticing combination, and my online inquiry was met with an immediate enthusiastic response. You don’t need to be a writer or a teacher to work with this program – in fact, most of the volunteers simply enjoy interacting with kids. After extensive training, a classroom full of new volunteers was scheduled to work one-on-one with the ELD (English Language Development) students at Richmond High, ready or not. We were all a little nervous, wondering if we were capable of teaching, connecting, and building trust with these “hardened” teens. Wondering if safety at this “tough” school was going to be a concern. We didn’t know exactly what to expect, but here’s what I found: kids are kids, no matter where they live. No matter how they act, deep down there is a child who wants their life to count.

 

Every other Wednesday throughout the school year I trekked to a portable at Richmond High and worked one-on-one first with “Maria” and then “Sofia” or vice versa. I loved walking through the school grounds and hallways to the ELD classroom to pick up the students, partly to catch a glimpse of school life and partly to stroll ‘n chat with each girl on the way back to the portable. This was the trust-building time when we talked about anything but academics. The time when Maria told me how she and her mom spent the whole night looking for her cousin. How they finally found him in jail at 4:00 am. The time when Sofia told me that she broke up with her boyfriend because he was getting messed up in a gang. That she was suspended from school when this ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend beat the crap out of her (she fought back). How Maria’s family lost their house a few years ago. That Sofia’s father left the family and moved back to Mexico. How Maria always feels so tired and doesn’t have anywhere to study. That Sofia is so sick of taking care of her sister’s little kids that live with them. So many obstacles on the road to their dreams that they told me about as we worked on an essay about goals: Maria wants to be a psychologist to help people feel better, and Sofia wants to be a police officer to make things right in her town.

It was an interesting journey trying to balance my expectations with my students’ realities. I found that their smallest accomplishments became my greatest wins as a writing coach. The measures of success varied from week to week. Sometimes just jotting down the ideas from our brainstorming session was all we could manage. Other weeks, a completed outline, mind-map or hamburger organizer was a feat in itself. One of my favorite triumphs came as a complete surprise on the day we worked on a letter, essay or poem for someone special. Sofia wanted to write a poem for her mother but was convinced that she couldn’t do it. Instead, she started scribbling some of the things that she loves about her mamacita with the intent to turn those scribbles into an essay. It was magical to watch that series of sentences unfold and evolve into – ta da! – a lovely poem. Sofia’s surprised delight was my reward of the semester.

Once I realized that my girls would probably not be writing stellar essays – especially in a language that wasn’t spoken in their home – I modified my expectations for what we could accomplish in one class period. Both of my students were almost paralyzed, fearful or maybe just shy about putting pen to paper. But as I shared my own writing frustrations with them, their self-reliance grew. If I said it once, I said it one hundred times this year: “The hardest part is just getting started – for all of us!” It was heartwarming to watch their writing confidence grow, and as the school year progressed they were able to jump straight into their assignments with less and less prompting from me.

My proudest achievement of the school year came on the last day of coaching when Maria said, “School sucks, but I always try to come on Wednesdays so I can work with you.” If that’s what it takes to keep a kid in school, then by golly I’ll back for more coaching next September. Tears welled up when each of my girls asked if we could exchange phone numbers for the summer – tears of joy that they wanted to keep in touch and of sorrow that the program doesn’t allow that to happen. It was difficult to let go of my students and trust that they would somehow find ways to make their dreams come true. The best I could do was leave them with a card, so I made one for each – cute scrapbooky cards packed with inspirational quotes, words of encouragement and as many well wishes as one card can hold.

How do we measure success? Most certainly I gained more from coaching writing than my students did. When we begin new ventures, lofty expectations are invariably entailed. As the ventures take off, those grandiose dreams often crash into realities… and unless we ratchet down a few notches with the actual realm of possibilities, we are left soaring aimlessly above the clouds – alone and disillusioned. Championing causes of social justice, we imagine that we can change the world. Working with at-risk students, we hope to better lives and inspire academic achievements. So how do we measure success when the project is finished or the school year ends without these miraculous accomplishments – without feeling like a disenchanted failure? We adjust our expectations and find cause for celebracíon in the little things, that’s what we do. Success is not necessarily the perfect essay or even a job well done. Sometimes it’s just showing up on Wednesdays.

 

“If you help one community, one village, or one child, the effects can last for weeks, years, or even a lifetime, like a ripple on a still ocean that extends into the horizon. That’s how you change the world.” 

- Jim Ziolkowski (author of “Walk in Their Shoes: Can One Person Change the World?”)

 

Stories and Ideas: a celebration of words

From Michael Dickens' blog, A Tuesday Night Memo

Writer Coach Michael Dickens reflects on his first Read-and-Write-a-thon experience.

Looking back on a year ago this weekend, I had never participated in a read-a-thon and, honestly, didn't really know what to expect. Would I be nervous? Would I be confident? Would the audience warm to my literary selection?

At 9 a.m. on a sunny, spring Saturday morning, as I recall, it was my turn to read in the WriterCoach Connection Read-and-Write-a-thon at Longfellow Middle School Library in Berkeley, an annual event in support of the WriterCoach Connection (WCC) program, a small but remarkable non-profit. Since 2001, WCC has brought one-on-one writing support to thousands of of middle school and high school students of all skill levels in the East Bay cities of Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, El Cerrito and Albany. This year, more than 650 coaches are working with over 2,200 students.

Looking back on my first Read-and-Write-a-thon experience, I was both humbled and amazed. There was much generosity and support from the dozen-or-so who came early in the day to the library at the time I read a selected passage from Calvin Trillin's Tummy Trilogy, an ode to food. They focused on my every spoken word for the 15 minutes in which I commanded their attentiveness.

Fast forward a year and this Saturday, it's time for me to participate in the WriterCoach Connection's sixth annual Read-and-Write-a-thon. For 10 consecutive hours, volunteers like me, students and supporters will share their love of the written and spoken word. There's bound to be poetry read as well as passages from novels -- even a yearly tradition of the reading of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It's our major fundraiser of the year, and it helps bridge the gap between what the WCC costs and what we're able to raise from school budgets and grants.

This year, I have been working individually with a variety of seventh and eighth grade students at Longfellow Middle School in Berkeley. My students represent a microcosm of the school's student body -- black, white, Asian, Hispanic -- and of the city of Berkeley, too. It has been a uniquely rewarding experience to see my students become more critical thinkers and confident writers.

My goal as a writing coach is simple and straight-forward, yet heartfelt: to help strengthen a student's writing skills and help them develop their ideas. And, through the use of positive encouragement and showing care, I believe I am making a difference in each student's educational development.

If you would like to support me, our readers, and this wonderful program by making a small donation, that would be very cool. If you can help, please go to www.writercoachconnection.org, click on the blue Read-and-Write-a-thon banner, and you'll land on our fundraising page.

Whatever you can do, thank you so much for keeping us going. No pledge is too small. In fact, $10 will buy the paper and pencils a class needs to keep writing all year. Those 2,200 kids, my fellow volunteer coaches, and dozens of English teachers thank you, too. Donate because kids write the future.

And, if you're in Berkeley on Saturday morning around 9:45 a.m., when I'll be reading a baseball tale about Willie Mays from Roger Angell's Game Time, feel free to drop in at the Longfellow Middle School Library where the Read-and-Write-a-thon will be taking place from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. There will be some light snacks and refreshments available -- and the library will be transformed into an enjoyable literary café atmosphere full of stories and ideas.

Local Control Funding Formula Kicking In

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), being rolled out gradually over the next eight years, changes the way education is funded in California, funneling extra money to districts with high proportions of historically under-served students and giving districts increased autonomy with regard to how money is spent. A component of LCFF is the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP), generated by each district to describe its plan for allocating the funding. LCAP is important to us because we hope that the districts we serve and that have with significant LCFF money, particularly Oakland and West County, will allocate extra funding to support WCC. 

The West County district’s draft LCAP is on the district website. Nearly three quarters of the district’s students fall under one of the three categories specified for extra funding under LCFF: English learners, low income, and foster youth. Districts can distribute these funds via:

• Targeted student services — one-to-one services that go only to ELL, LI or FY students.
• School-wide programs — for schools with 100% eligible students or on programs that primarily benefit ELL, LI, and FY students.
• District-wide Programs — initiatives for all that have achievement gap closing benefits to ELL, LI and FY students.

As the information on the district website describes, allocation of funds per LCAP will be tied directly to the district’s new strategic plan, adopted in November 2013.

One result of extra LCFF funding in West County: Richmond High has once again approved $25,000 to cover the cost of WCC not covered by the Cities of Service grant we received in partnership with the City of Richmond. 

The Oakland school district hasn’t yet released its draft LCAP. Information about Oakland funding under LCFF is on the district website, but it isn’t very helpful in terms of explaining how much extra funding will be available under LCFF per the district’s LCAP and therefore giving us an idea of how this extra funding will impact our WCC site budgets. We do know that Fremont High School is planning to allocate funding for WCC for the first time in three years, $14,000 to support WCC in 2014-15. Our draft budget for Fremont for 2014-5 is $36,000.

The draft Berkeley school district LCAP was discussed at the April 30 BUSD board meeting.

Bob Menzimer

Oakland Reads 2020

Oakland Reads 2020, an initiative of the Oakland Literacy Coalition, of which we are a charter member, recognizes that the academic success of children requires engaged communities mobilized to remove barriers, expand opportunities, and assist parents to serve as full partners in the success of their children.

Oakland Reads 2020 has released its Baseline Report, an in-depth analysis of the current state of third-grade reading proficiency in Oakland.  The report, written by Urban Strategies Council on behalf of OR 2020, focuses on third grade reading success as well as the four Oakland Reads levers:  school readiness, school attendance, summer learning, & family engagement.  The report highlights challenges, progress, and community assets already in place serving Oakland students and families. The report dashboard offers a quick overview:

Although the Oakland Literacy Coalition and Oakland Reads 2020 (led by CAFL board member Sanam Jorjani) focus on reading skills up to third grade and we address writing skills at the secondary-school level, I think it’s important that we participate actively in both organizations. Reading and writing are inextricably linked. We are all part of the larger literacy tapestry and mutual support is crucial to helping students become fully literate members of a healthy society.

Bob Menzimer

Lively Gathering for Appreciation Party

Were you there? No one has an exact count, but it looked to me like well north of 100 of our coaches jammed the light-filled space at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley on May 5, a sunny Cinco de Mayo, for our annual Volunteer Appreciation Party.

You think it’s not crazy even during party set-up? From left, Susanne Eneya, Diane Benton, Shelli Fried and Kathleen Hallam offer clear evidence to the contrary. More Photos Here

As guitarist and vocalist Mark Unger serenaded from the stage, conviviality filled the air. Albany Middle School Principal Deborah Brill and Richmond High teacher Maddie Schmalz offered educators’ perspectives on the impact of WCC. I was pleased to present to Kathleen Hallam our first-ever ten-year service pin, and Kathleen in turn honored the following veteran coaches with theirs: Patricia Barkley, Wendy Breuer, Jeanine Brown, Pam Crane, Kathy Kahn, Sahib-Amar Khalsa, Helen Lecar, Laura Marlin, Martha Moses, Lynn Mueller, Priscilla Myrick, Phyllis Orrick, Scott Spear, Renee Watkins and David Williamson. Phyllis and Renee took to the podium for a look back on more than a decade of sitting with students to stimulate their writing capabilities.

Deep thanks to Kathleen Hallam for organizing this year’s party, an enormous task for which she had lots of helpers!

Bob Menzimer