WriterCoach Connection

Freshening up coaching skills for the new school year

An energetic group of 45 writer coaches filled the teacher lounge at King Middle School in Berkeley last evening and today (Sept. 28) for this year's fall Coach Workshops in Berkeley. The coaches met to share ideas--describing the joys and challenges of writer coaching and offering each other suggestions and support.

For the first time, this year's fall Workshops included not only experienced coaches but volunteers who have just completed their training, or are in the middle of it. Body language and facial expressions suggested that the new volunteers were giving rapt attention to the classroom coaching yarns spun by their veteran colleagues.

King Middle School site coordinator Kathleen Hallam (top right, red shirt) leads a lively discussion of what writer coaching is really like in the King teacher lounge on the morning of Sept. 28.

Additional Coach Workshops are scheduled for this fall in Oakland, organized by Oakland site coordinator Karen Larson. 

Facing busy schedules, WCC volunteers often have to race off to other calendar items when they finish a coaching session, so the Coach Workshops are a welcome opportunity to talk with fellow volunteers about their coaching adventures!

Bob Menzimer

Volunteer training, and coaching, in high gear

With fall training sessions already completed or under way in Berkeley, El Cerrito, and Oakland, WCC volunteer coordinator Lynn Mueller and coach trainers Marilyn Alberts, Kathleen Hallam, Karen Larson, Laura Marlin, and Jayne Walker are a blur of motion. The flood of volunteers is so strong that Lynn has had to schedule at least one extra training session to meet the demand.

And the new coaches are arriving none too soon--in El Cerrito, Marilyn led a group of volunteers across the training finish line on Thursday evening of last week and the next morning, the coaches were sitting down with students for the first-ever WCC writing conferences at ECHS. El Cerrito community organizer Todd Groves, who powered the push to bring WCC to ECHS, was beaming, and he deserved every high five he got.

This year's expansion to three new school sites marks the most extensive program growth in the history of WCC. Meantime, we're planning how to reach the eight Oakland schools, so far, that are standing in line, waiting for writer coaches for next year.       

An exciting time for all of us!

Bob Menzimer                                                                                    

El Cerrito kicks off coach training for 2010-11!

On Sept. 8, El Cerrito High School hosted simultaneous milestones for WriterCoach Connection: completion of both the first WCC coach training sequence for 2010-11 and the first-ever coach training for the program in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. Trainer Laura Marlin (standing, above) led 18 new WCC volunteers into their new coaching experiences. Most will work with students at El Cerrito High School, some will serve students in other schools in Albany, Berkeley, or Oakland.

Veteran WCC site coordinator Kathleen Hallam will head the program at ECHS, working in conjunction with community-organizer supreme Todd Groves, whose tireless efforts to bring the program to El Cerrito will pay off on September 24, when the first writer coaches gather at ECHS in the morning to begin working with the English Language Development students who are the focus of the program this year at the school.

We're pleased beyond words to have made it to West County at last!

Bob Menzimer

Strollin' into the world of WriterCoach Connection

On a windblown Sunday that eventually saw the clouds chased away, the WriterCoach Connection booth at yesterday's Solano Stroll attracted a robust 36 new volunteer coaching prospects. 

 

The conversation was lively all day as a flock of school parents, community members, writers, editors, and teachers roosted in front of the WCC display to check out the program. We also greeted many current volunteers and school officials, who paused in mid-Stroll to cheer us on. 

Many thanks to our stalwart booth heroes, who filled the air all day with information about WCC. They included Sarah Allday, Denis Clifford, Todd Groves, Kathleen Hallam, Katie Koelle, Karen Larson, Lynn Mueller, Annie Stine, and Jayne Walker.

Here's (l. to r.) Lynn Mueller, Sarah Allday, Todd Groves,  Jayne Walker, and Kathleen Hallam, still smiling as the afternoon shadows lengthened.

 
 

The day before, Karen Larson and Kathy Kahn whipped up plenty of interest in WCC at the Oakland Volunteer Fair, with thirteen new prospective coach trainees.

We'll need more than 400 coaches again this year to serve 1,500 students at our nine school sites. Volunteer coordinators Lynn Mueller and Karen Larson have us well on the way!

Bob Menzimer