writing coaching
Writing coaching has been somewhat difficult for me. It's hard to give feedback to students whom I have never met, and haven't told me much about themselves through email. I think that it's important to know who you are coaching so that you understand what they might need more/less help with. I haven't had a ton of success with students replying to me or sending me their work. Although this is a little frustrating because it will help me once I become a teacher, I completely understand. It's an extra task for these students, and I remember what it was like being in high school. I probably wouldn't have sent something I wrote to a college student either. I think it's important to be understanding, above all else. I think that, going back to an older reading, they need to understand that it's perfectly okay to not have something written perfectly at first. Bad writing only paves the way for improvement! I think that the stress of writing "badly" and having someone you don't even know read it can be super overwhelming. Especially for young writers. I think these students need lots of feedback that tells them what they are doing well. If they feel that they are doing somewhat well at first, that might make them want to cultivate their talents and improve upon their weaknesses. Again, what they need from pretty much everyone is understanding. I think that teachers are responsible for promoting that us writing coaches will be understanding, and writing coaches need to follow through with that. One can hope that the student's peers will also harbor this "understanding" if they share their work in class. Teachers can try to promote this by setting boundaries and making their room a safe space for everyone.
One resource I often use to first start editing my papers is https://hemingwayapp.com/
This website is great and offers much more than other websites (not naming names, but it rhymes with hammerly) in my opinion. I've used it since high school for most papers that I submit, and it hasn't steered me wrong yet.
Another resource I always use for writing is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL). This is what I use to check if I'm citing sources properly in MLA versus APA. https://owl.purdue.edu/
Hi Katie! I can relate to not hearing back from as many students as I would have hoped, but like you mention it is important to be understanding to their situations and our own. I really like your focus on students allowing themselves to write "badly" because I think it is something that is not talked about enough in high school. Personally, my struggle with my writerly identity has always been worrying that I am not "good enough" and just starting can be so intimidating. I think this attitude can kill creativity easily and can risk students' view of their own writerly identity. In part, that is why I have really enjoyed the writing coach work we've been doing because I think it focuses on the low stakes revision process that all of us have gotten used to in college. In high school, at least my experience, writing a first drafts was a perfunctory steps and the peer revision process was usually barren. I think this process has been fun for me because it opens up the revision process and the fact that it is okay to rewrite, change, and grow in one piece of writing. ~Kimberly
ReplyDeleteHi Katie!
ReplyDeleteI can relate to you that it is tough to be able to connect with students that you have never met and do not reach out much to you. I have a couple of students that either do not respond to me or did not give me many details about who they are or what they like. I think being able to connect with students is super important and not always the easiest to do when things are all virtual!
-Drew