Last week at Richmond High School, writer coaches worked with the 10th grade students in the Law Academy as they researched a social justice organization. But instead of going to a card catalog in the library or (god forbid!) an encyclopedia, the students and coaches went straight to their smart phones to do the research. Using Google, they found the organization's website and figured how to navigate the site to find the mission statement and to discover who else is supporting the organization. They then used what they had learned to write a persuasive essay, using Ehtos, Pathos and Logos to convince others to support their organization. A few coaches already use smart phones and tablets to look up word definitions or make notes, and students in some of the schools where we coach have access to laptops during coaching. Having access to so much information at our fingertips is hard to resist, and it's exciting to imagine the many ways we can use technology in coaching. If there are coaches who aren't completely comfortable with this new way of doing things, this can be a great opportunity for students to help the coaches! As always, we come back to the relationship between the student and coach, and we recognize that we can both gain a lot from each other in our interactions. Technology won't change that!
Karen Larson
Site Coordinator, Richmond High School
