WriterCoach Connection

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!

 

El Cerrito teachers honor our (and their) writer coaches

For the second straight semester, teachers at El Cerrito High School have hosted a party to honor the writer coaches who worked with their students. After school in the ECHS library on June 7, Principal David Luongo, English Dept. Chairperson Curt Douglas, and teachers Godhuli Bose, Jennifer Dreyfus, Kym Kuzmik, and Molly McGrath stood to offer heartfelt comments about what having the coaches meant to them and to their students this year. Other ECHS teacher colleagues looked on, bathed in the glow of a slideshow that displayed photos of the coaches in action and written expressions of appreciation from the teachers. Meantime, the coaches seated in the midst of the teachers glowed from within.

Below, teacher Jennifer Dreyfus (standing, center) is making this memorable comment: "Students that don't turn anything else in will turn in their writer-coach assignments."

Here is Principal David Luongo, expressing the hope that WCC returns to ECHS next year, as CAFL Board Chairperson Kathy Kahn (center) looks on with the same thought:

Below, English Dept. Chairperson Curt Douglas leads off the celebration, saying, "At the end of the year when we think about the challenges in the classroom, it's so uplifting to see the data of my students who worked with writer coaches, compared to my students last year who didn't have coaching."

Added Mr. Douglas, "This year, students handed in the largest, most ambitious and complex narrative essays I've ever seen. I got some 20-page submissions, and one 30-page paper. It was because they had three writer-coach sessions on this assignment."

We often hear heartfelt expressions of appreciation from teachers, but the two parties hosted for our coaches by teachers at El Cerrito High this year were a first. Needless to say, the thanks we heard from them were returned in kind!

Bob Menzimer

WriterCoach Connection at Berkeley High: teacher wants more!

We're planning the continuation of WCC for next year at Berkeley High's Green Academy, where we are coaching 12th grade students this year. Teacher Dagny Dingman is hoping we can expand writer coaching next year to include Green's 9th grade composition classes.

In the course of conversations about next year, Dagny had this to say about WCC:

"The program has been fabulous, has worked very well with my courses. The students have gotten a lot out of their work with coaches. Their writing has become more autonomous, less about me directing the writing process, and more about them being engaged in the writing process as it comes from them and from their work with people besides me. Their work therefore more accurately reflects what they'll be doing with their writing after high school, when they'll be more on their own. WCC also forces me to assign more writing, so the kids simply do more of it. We work on assignments longer, with more revisions. For the students, writing becomes less of an isolated activity, more of a constant exercise. WCC helps to demystify writing for my students."

We certainly hope to be back at Green next year, with writing support for students at Green Academy, and for Dagny and her teaching colleagues.

Bob Menzimer

Media Academy students stand out in national contest

Amidst all the reports of school budget cuts, teacher layoffs and low test scores, leave it to some students at Media Academy to rewrite the story. Last month, the high school's student newspaper, the Green & Gold, took fourth place in a national journalism contest, beating out several private schools and schools with top-ranking California state test scores.  

The winners were announced on April 16 at the National Scholastic Press Association/Journalism Education Association's National Convention in Anaheim.

"It's very nice to get validation from an outside source," said Lisa Shafer, the paper's adviser. "I really don't think the students know how good they are. We do have real news, and we go after it." 

But it gets better. Two students, who participated in the WriterCoach Connection program at Media last year, took home top prizes in a write-off contest with more than 1,000 other students. Kim Mejia-Cuellar, a junior, earned an "Excellent" ranking in the news writing category while her twin sister Gloria "Jack" won an "Honorable Mention" for editorial writing at the conference. 

"I felt really proud," says Jack, reflecting on the experience from the newsroom at Media. "Comparing ourselves to other kids that have more money and better resources and seeing that their papers weren't that good, I learned it doesn't matter where you're from. You can still be a great journalist."  

Both girls wrote their pieces about the "Parent Trigger", a proposed school reform concept that would allow parents to force public schools into closing or becoming charter schools, if they failed to perform. Their submissions were judged on a broad range of criteria, from attention-grabbing leads, use of active verbs and interesting language to original angles and lack of errors.  

That's where the impact of WriterCoach Connection can be seen. "I think it gave me more confidence in my writing," said Jack, remarking on how coaching has influenced her writing on the paper. "Knowing that someone else is going to read your work -- it drives you to write better." 

According to Shafer, students care more about the craft of writing than they did in her first years at Media Academy, before WriterCoach Connection had a presence on campus. "It's hard to separate what part of that is WriterCoach Connection and what is the influence of a strong 10th grade writing teacher, Sonja Totten-Harris," says Shafer, who has been the paper's faculty adviser for five years. "I am convinced it is both, as the WCC program is especially successful at Media because we have an English Language Arts teacher who cares so much about students, about writing and about WriterCoach Connection." 

"I think the students are more open to receiving feedback on their writing and making revisions to it than they were in my first two years at Media, " Shafer added. "It used to be students would turn in a first draft and expect it to be published without having to do any more work on it. Now, they are more comfortable with the rewrites and rewrites and rewrites that good writing and good reporting often take."  

Kim Mejia-Cuellar concurred. "My writer coach definitely influenced me to get my writing published," says Kim. "She encouraged me to unleash the power of my words and supported me along the way. She also was genuinely interested in helping me become a better writer. Thank you, Kathy Kahn!"  

Both Mejia-Cuellar sisters are also active in Dave Eggers' 826 Valencia writing program and their school's debate team. "My writer coach encouraged me to go to 826 Valencia's writing camp over the summer and ever since I've been involved with the organization, " Jack said. "It's changed my life."   

Check out the award-winning Green & Gold and the photos below of Media students and advisor Lisa Shafer at the convention in Anaheim.

Lisa Awrey

 

Gloria "Jack" Mejia-Cuellar, a junior at Media Academy, works on her entry in the write-off contest at the National High School Journalism Convention in Anaheim in April 2011. 

 
L. to r., Media Academy Juniors Kim Mejia-Cuellar and Gloria "Jack" Mejia-Cuellar are flanked by Sophomores Katelyn Bauzon and Laura Lem as they head out for the conference loaded with copies of their newspaper to share. 

 

 

Coming to a momentary stop at Claremont McKenna College, are (l. to r.) Kim Mejia-Cuellar, Gloria "Jack" Mejia-Cuellar, newspaper advisor Lisa Shafer, Katelyn Bauzon, and Laura Lem.

 

 

What teachers say about WriterCoach Connection

We conduct a comprehensive annual assessment of WriterCoach Connection and this year, teachers at our middle- and high-school sites shared the following comments about the impact of the program in their classrooms:

"The writing coaches were invaluable to my students' growth! It's amazing to see the difference one person can make for each student. I saw my students come alive with the attention and compassion they received from their coaches. Their voices were heard and the writer within each was really validated.The attention paid on such an individual level made a HUGE difference in their writing skills."

"I saw tremendous growth class-wide in ELD 4, a course focusing on English language acquisition and reading, writing, listening and speaking academic English at the appropriate grade level. I was thoroughly impressed with the efforts of the writer coaches and their ability to keep students actively engaged. ELD 4 has writers ranging from low-skilled to advanced level, and in each case, I saw growth in articulation of ideas and concepts, confidence in claims with textual support, and submissions of strong writing, whether revised or single draft. Comparing this year's ELD 4 class to last year's, it is clear that WCC had an immense impact on student work, writing craft, and quality of work. Rarely as a teacher am I available for my students to give them the time and attention they sorely need. WCC was an experience that has changed the lives of many. A number of ELD 4 students transitioned out to mainstream courses and were redesignated proficient in English, and it is no question that WCC played a big role in this regard."

"Students really enjoy having one-on-one coaching with their writing. They come back from a session excited about their work and ready to make the necessary edits and revisions to improve their writing."

"Students step up their game when it is time to share their work with an interested adult! Having another set of eyes and the opportunity to re-read work is a great way for students to develop revision skills, and hopefully develop an 'editorial' voice. Without the time with writer coaches this would be very difficult."

"Students become very used to their writer coaches and ask when the next time they'll be coming is. They often return from a coaching session proudly waving their work. Because coaches have students explain their thinking out loud, coaching pushes students' analysis of evidence to a deeper level. The regularity with which the coaches come is good for all types of writers but especially for low-skilled or reluctant writers."

"The one-on-one interaction with another adult has implications beyond just the writing. I have watched students engage with coaches who have been with the program with them since middle school. This consistency in their lives is a significant factor in helping the students' confidence. Working one on one with their writing, students complete assignments, understand the editing process, and learn new ways of looking at their writing."

"Just tonight at Open House, several students told their parents about essays they worked on with their writer coach. They were so proud of their work!"

 

Bob Menzimer

When a teacher becomes a WCC volunteer

We always say you don't have to be a teacher (or a writer, or an editor) to become a WCC coach, and it's true: our coaches come from a wide variety of backgrounds. But former teachers frequently sign up for training and become WCC coaches, perhaps because they value what they never had while standing in front of a classroom and looking out over 30 or more expectant faces: the time to work with students individually.

Marge Atkinson is a long-time Albany resident and community activist, a veteran Albany teacher and officer of the Albany Teachers Association, and currently a member of the Albany City Council and Albany's mayor. And now she has a sparkling new addition to her lengthy public-service list: she recently completed her WCC training and is a newly minted writer coach! Here's what Marge has to say about her newest role:

"The WriterCoach Connection training emphasized how important it was to make a personal connection with each student and be an adult that encouraged the ideas, voice and cues of what the student wanted to work on in each session.  For many of the participants, it was hard not to feel like we wanted to 'instruct' a student, but that this was not our role.  We are to be there to guide the student in his or her own direction and to be a friendly, supportive and helpful presence.  It was an eye-opener to be instructed, by an English teacher (!) that it was not the grammar and mechanics that we needed to know, but that it would be our effort and success in establishing a positive relationship with each student that would make us a great writing coach mentor."

It's wonderful to see WCC teacher/coaches with the time to sit with students individually, for a half hour or more at a time, bringing to each student years of classroom experience and dedication, and so clearly appreciative of their new role. Many thanks to Marge for continuing her commitment to Albany's children!

Bob Menzimer