WriterCoach Connection

Re: Coaching a student with a dubious essay idea

I'd use an approach similar to Bob's, explaining that it's always a good idea to explore several possibilities before beginning to write. I'd encourage brief brainstorming of each of two or three possible choices, to see which one produces the largest number of good ideas (points of comparison, in this case) to explore in the essay. This step will help the student see for herself which topic will work best.

Jayne Walker

Coach and coach trainer

What if your student seems to be presenting an ineffective overall argument in an essay?

One of Sahib-Amar Khalsa's coaches at CP Academy (Berkeley High) posed this question for their up-coming coach refresher workshop:

 "The main question I have is how to gently but clearly steer a student away from what seems like a bad overall direction/argument. For instance, a student chose to compare Oedipus with Nemo (as in Finding Nemo). It had been a while since I saw Nemo, so I couldn't say for sure that this seemed like a bad approach. We did find some similarities. But overall, I suspected she was going to spend a lot of time and was never really going to get a good paper out of this choice. What to do?"

CAFL program manager Teresa Barnett has this suggestion:

"My first instinct is to say that our goal is to help the student clarify their own ideas rather than impose our own. So, part of the job in this situation might be to ask some gentle questions that could help the student arrive at the conclusion on their own that they might need to shift direction. I know this can be frustrating because it results in a session with more 'discussing' and not as much 'down on paper', but I think that can be ok. I'll toss this question out to a couple of our trainers and see if any of them have some more specific suggestions.... I think we've heard variants of this question over the years, and it actually could be separated into two questions: 1. What to do when a student is "sort of' on track, but working in a direction that will be difficult when there might be some better examples/arguments/evidence, etc. to support a stronger argument? 2. What to do when the student is using examples or pursuing a thesis that is just wrong, or where the examples/evidence actually don't support the thesis at all, etc."

Here's my somewhat similar response to Sahib-Amar and her coach:

I think we should always keep in mind that it's the student's voice we're focusing on, and not the coach's. And we should also keep in mind one of the main points we make early on in the first training session, that our goal is not to generate the perfect paper for the assignment.

But it's also our job to guide students in what we think will be helpful directions. So my instinct here would be a variation of what Teresa is suggesting. The coach could point out that it's always good to have options when considering an approach, and that the student's Oedipus/Nemo idea has merit, so it should definitely be one of the options to consider. Then suggest that the coach and student spend a little time thinking of some other possible approaches, with a goal of ultimately having, say, three ideas from which to choose. If the coach has an idea he or she thinks is better, he or she could suggest that it be on the list. Then, when it comes time to choose, the coach could help the student make the best choice, which might or might not be Nemo. If Nemo seems clearly to not be the best choice to the coach, but the student insists that's the one he or she likes, then I'd say the coach should go with it. And make sure the list of options is on the coach worksheet.

Blog readers: What other suggestions do you have for Sahib-Amar and her coach? You can respond by clicking on the Comments link below this message.

Bob Menzimer

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Bob Menzimer

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Bob Menzimer

Coaching miracles take many forms

Sometimes our coaching connections seem made in heaven – and not necessarily through any particular effort on the part of the site coordinator, just because the fates have aligned.

 

Yesterday at Albany Middle School, we started working with the 8^th graders on their I-Search projects.  Our assignment was to help them come up with a guiding question to direct their quarter-long research project.  Coach Tony Hawthorne met with a student he has been working with this semester and got down to work.

 

"What is your topic?" he asked.

The student answered, "Synesthsia.  Do you know what that is?"

"Do I?" responded Tony, "I have it!"

 

For those who don't know, Dictionary.com defines synesthesia as: "A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color."   Wikipedia.com (yes, we know it's not the best place for serious research, but it sure is handy) says the prevalence of synesthesia has been reported in a range from 1 in 20 to 1 in 20,000).

 

Regardless of the actual odds, it is pretty amazing to have this kind of a matchup!  I know this is one team that will really enjoy their I-Search time together.

 

-- Karen Larson, AMS Site Coordinator (who takes no credit for this!)

 

Proposed federal education bill targets revenue-starved schools

As you may have read on the front page of today's Chronicle, the proposed $125 billion federal emergency-aid education bill would allocate $10 billion to California, including $4 million for Berkeley and $64 million for Oakland. The bill has passed the Senate Appropriations Committee, and is expected to be voted on by the full Senate next week and to have completed its journey through both houses of Congress by mid-February.

The specific effect on our school districts and on funding for WCC is unknown, since much of the funding is specifically targeted and local districts will not have complete control over how it is spent. But we can say this: it's not bad news.

Here's the link to an Education Week article on the bill:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/01/27/20stimstate.h28.html?tmp=367377135

Bob Menzimer

Obama-Biden volunteer service plan: right in our wheelhouse

Regarding the Obama-Biden Plan for Universal Voluntary Citizen Service, one of the elements of the plan is this:

"Classroom Corps to help teachers and students, with a priority placed on high-need and underserved schools....The Corps will enlist parents, grandparents, college students or community members to mentor and provide one-on-one assistance to students, and assist with classroom activities under the direction of teachers."

Sounds a lot like WriterCoach Connection to me.

And one of the four primary tenets of the plan is "Invest in the Capacity of Nonprofits to Innovate and Expand Successful Program across the Country." This section of the Obama-Biden plan suggests that:

1. WCC will benefit from the federal government's increased (and long overdue) emphasis on citizen service, as we expand our coach recruitment efforts.

2. We may be able to access federal funding for WCC, inasmuch as it precisely fits the program profile the plan seeks to support, to wit: "By leveraging federal dollars, Obama and Biden will foster the use of best practices of the private sector to nurture innovation in the nonprofit sector. This will help identify programs that work and expand them to be scalable in other markets, which will increase the efficiency and impact of the nonprofit sector as a whole."

The full text of the Obama-Biden plan is at:

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/NationalServicePlanFactSheet.pdf

Through the nonprofit Network for Good, I have signed up for a membership with the Grant Station program, which will notify us of federal grant programs in support of education.

Meantime, I plan to write to President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to help build awareness of the effectiveness of WriterCoach Connection.

Bob Menzimer

Writer coach expands her role with Community Alliance for Learning

WriterCoach Connection enters the big leagues by welcoming our very first intern: WCC coach and UCSF student Liz Bartz will be joining us for the spring term. Liz will put her sociology studies to practice by assisting with our WCC assessment survey data collection and tabulation. She will also conduct some field research...interviewing coaches and students about writing and the role of feedback. We'll hear what students themselves have to say about how they see themselves as writers, and their interest (or lack thereof) in writing as a part of their post-high school lives. Look for some of Liz's write-ups to grace our blog, e-newsletter, and our traditional newsletter throughout the spring.   I'm thrilled to have Liz join our team. She's completing her bachelor's degree this spring, after compiling an impressive academic record including a variety of research projects, recognition on the Dean's List, and published research. Liz continues her second year as a writer coach at Willard, where she has been dependable and highly valued. Site Coordinator Jeanine Brown sings her praises, and we thank Jeanine for sending Liz our way! Teresa Barnett

 

WCC receives generous support through the East Bay Community Foundation

Community Alliance for Learning and WriterCoach Connection are the grateful recipients of an anonymous grant of $4,000 via the East Bay Community Foundation, in support of WCC at Willard Middle School in Berkeley. The grant award arrived on Saturday, January 24, and is a wonderfully generous expression of support for the efforts of Willard site coordinator Jeanine Brown; Willard English teachers Patty Bonsall, Andrea Prichett, and Michael Williams; Willard principal Robert Ithurburn and his staff; and most especially the 49 volunteer writer coaches who are serving all 152 Willard eighth graders with one-on-one attention throughout the school year. 

We deeply appreciate the generosity of the East Bay Community Foundation and the donor(s) who provided this $4,000 grant.

Bob Menzimer

"A Teacher Says, 'Take out your pencils. Begin.'"

... that's from the Inaugural Poem, "Praise Song for the Day," by Elizabeth Alexander.  It's a wonderful poem, naturally -- it was part of a wonderful morning ... and you can read the whole thing at www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html.  Alexander celebrates our small deeds, both humdrum  ("Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform ...") and transcendent ("Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.")  She celebrates the great sacrifices. ("Say it plain, that many have died for this day... Praise song for the struggle.")  Above all, the praise song is for our future:

"In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun./On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light."

But of course the line that took my breath away was, "Take out your pencils.  Begin."  Our students, their teachers -- and our work, too -- all part of walking forward in that light.  I'm still catching my breath after that one.

Kathy Kahn