Writing Coach Work

In my limited time as a writing coach I’ve had some really positive interactions with the students I’m working with, but not many opportunities to read their work. For the first set of papers, I believe we were instructed to provide feedback on in-text citations. This was relatively simple, and to be honest I was pretty relieved because I realized that I didn’t feel very confident in providing feedback. Prior to this class I always focused on things like grammar but now knew that I wanted to look at higher order concerns, and I was nervous about how to do that. I received two other papers that were variations of the standard book report. I feel like I still focused on things like sentence structure but used the rubric as a guide for my feedback, so I was able to make some comments about topics that were missed or confusing.

First and foremost, I think student writers need their teachers to teach them how to write including structure, organization, main ideas, thesis, etc. I also think student writers need encouragement from their teachers and they need their teachers to tell them that it’s okay to write bad papers. Also, that writing a bad first draft or a poorly written first draft does not mean that they are a bad writer. In the article “Y’all Always Told Me to Stand Up For What I Believe In” by Marcelle Haddix, Josanique Everson, and Reba Y. Hodge, they point out that we should be presuming confidence in our students’ writing abilities because they engage in writing practice across various platforms. Our students know how to write and we need to reinforce this idea in them. Every paper I received came with a message that said something to the effect of “I’m still working on it, so it’s not that good,” or “This is a really rough draft”. Each student was almost apologetic when sending their papers, and when I looked at the papers with HOCs in mind, they were all really good; their thoughts were clearly organized and the overall message was easy to understand.


writing - Bing images


When it comes to young writers working with their peers, it would be helpful for them to work together to figure out the writing process. Eventually, we all come up with our own techniques to write, revise, and rewrite but it can take time to figure out your style. Students might benefit from working with their peers to discuss what they’ve tried, what works, and what hasn’t worked. I think working with peers to figure out the writing process will help to speed up the development of their own techniques that work for them.

Trying to figure out what a writer needs from their writing coach is a concept I’m still working on. So far, I’ve mentioned something I really liked in each paper I’ve read and complimented it, I’ve asked questions that I couldn’t find the answers to in their papers but thought should be included, I’ve provided feedback on in-text citations, and I’ve shared my favorite revision technique which is to read papers out loud. I think a writing coach should first reinforce the idea that the student is a good writer, then work on main ideas, structure, and organization, but my thoughts on a writing coach’s role may change a few times by the end of the semester.

Teachers, peers, and writing coaches work together by helping to develop the skills of young writers. I think teachers and writing coaches are going to be the only ones that can really reinforce the idea of writing badly as a good thing, coming from a peer it may be more difficult to believe. Aside from that, I really the responsibilities can be shared by all.

 

This is from Laura Randazzo's YouTube channel, she's an ELA teacher and has so many videos on all things relating to ELA. I definitely recommend checking her out, she has so many videos!

High School English Teacher Vlog: How to Teach Writing, FREE Brainstorming Organizers - YouTube

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Casey JordiMarch 18, 2021 at 7:04 PM

    Kelly,
    I definitely relate when you say that you're still trying to figure out what it is that students need from us as writing coaches. It's a strange, liminal position to have -- am I more of a teacher, or more of a peer? What is the right way to talk to them, to leave feedback? I'm also figuring it out. Great post! - Casey

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  2. Tyler SchaefferMarch 19, 2021 at 2:39 AM

    Hey Kelly,
    I too have a little trouble giving feedback to the students as I don't want to focus on what they did wrong, but be supportive in their writing. As I thought it was really important and I completely agree with you when you said that teachers need to tell their students it's okay to write bad papers is so crucial. As students get so caught up in trying to write a 'perfect' paper, they don't create a healthy and productive writing process.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Olivia ParkerMarch 20, 2021 at 7:30 AM

    Hi Kelly!
    Great post! We shared a lot of the same ideas in this blog. I also used to focus on smaller errors when providing feedback. Like you mentioned, I feel like I did this because I wasn't confident enough to point out the bigger flaws. I think this also stems from not wanting to hurt other's feelings. I know now that feedback is not meant to hurt others, but to help them instead. I think this is an idea that teachers really need to push at students.

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