A robust year of work by WriterCoach Connection volunteers concluded in May and June with enthusiastic flourishes at all six of our school sites, as students, teachers, and coaches celebrated the collaborations that made the program a rousing success for 2009-10. When the final coaching sessions concluded, 384 dedicated WCC volunteers had worked with 19 teachers in 46 classes, sitting down with 1,285 students for one-on-one writing conferences 9,763 times. Whew!
This scene at Media Academy in Oakland was repeated thousands of times in East Bay schools in 2009-10, as coaches huddled with students to help advance teachers' learning goals and guide the development of writing and critical thinking skills.
WCC's invaluable site coordinators made all this happen, deftly orchestrating the activities of innumerable coach teams in support of teachers and students. These wizards of organization include Sahi-Amar Khalsa (Community Partnerships Academy at Berkeley High), Kathleen Hallam (King Middle School, Berkeley), Annie Stine and Mark Pasley (Longfellow Middle School, Berkeley), Jeanine Brown (Willard Middle School, Berkeley), Karen Larson (Media Academy, Oakland), and Teresa Barnett and Peg Healy (Albany Middle School).
Our site coordinators and volunteer coaches deserve their summer break! Meantime, Community Alliance for Learning staff and board members are busy planning for WriterCoach Connection 2010-11.
Bob Menzimer