“WriterCoach Connection has proven to be highly effective in generating increased writing achievement in Oakland classrooms. More Oakland schools are requesting WriterCoach Connection as word gets out about the results it produces. We need this program, and these volunteers, now more than ever.” —Tony Smith, Former Superintendent, Oakland Unified School District
This year more than 2,000 secondary school students in Alameda and West Contra Costa Counties are becoming stronger, more confident writers with the help of community volunteers recruited, trained, and organized as writer coaches by WriterCoach Connection.
Since 2001, WriterCoach Connection has sent teams of trained community volunteers into secondary school English classrooms to work one on one with students on their writing assignments. During the 2013–14 school year, 678 volunteer coaches provided 18,808 regular coaching sessions for students in 80 East Bay classrooms. WCC is currently serving 11 secondary schools in the Oakland, West Contra Costa County, Berkeley and Albany school districts. Next year we will bring our program to Kennedy High, our second high school in Richmond.
Our goal is to help students think critically and to express their ideas clearly and confidently in writing. To develop these skills, crucial to college and workplace success, most students need more support than their schools can provide. The National Commission on Writing advises, and other experts agree, that teachers and students need to devote more time to writing, and students need more feedback at every stage of the writing process. WCC volunteers help to bridge this gap between the writing instruction teachers can offer and the extra attention that students need. "It's like having 35 teachers here," one El Cerrito High School teacher marveled.
WCC's trained coaches offer 8 to 14 individual writing conferences of 20 to 45 minutes during the year to every student in a classroom. These one-to-one coaching sessions benefit every student, providing the differentiated instruction that remains an elusive goal in most public schools. Coaches are trained to challenge more proficient writers to reach for higher standards and to encourage students who are unmotivated or ashamed of their poor English skills to start expressing their ideas in writing with confidence and pride. The inclusiveness of the program is especially beneficial for at-risk students because it eliminates the stigma associated with remedial tutoring and ensures that struggling writers who might otherwise fall through the cracks receive the help they need and too often do not seek on their own.
As WCC has expanded into increasingly challenging educational environments, we have refined our coach training to serve the many students who face the additional challenge of learning English as a second language. And as schools prepare for the heightened focus on writing that the new Common Core Standards demand, we are working with teachers and administrators to ensure that our coaches will provide the enhanced instructional support that is needed more urgently than ever.
Since 2001, WriterCoach Connection has sent teams of trained community volunteers into secondary school English classrooms to work one on one with students on their writing assignments. During the 2013–14 school year, 678 volunteer coaches provided 18,808 regular coaching sessions for students in 80 East Bay classrooms. WCC is currently serving 11 secondary schools in the Oakland, West Contra Costa County, Berkeley and Albany school districts. Next year we will bring our program to Kennedy High, our second high school in Richmond.
Our goal is to help students think critically and to express their ideas clearly and confidently in writing. To develop these skills, crucial to college and workplace success, most students need more support than their schools can provide. The National Commission on Writing advises, and other experts agree, that teachers and students need to devote more time to writing, and students need more feedback at every stage of the writing process. WCC volunteers help to bridge this gap between the writing instruction teachers can offer and the extra attention that students need. "It's like having 35 teachers here," one El Cerrito High School teacher marveled.
WCC's trained coaches offer 8 to 14 individual writing conferences of 20 to 45 minutes during the year to every student in a classroom. These one-to-one coaching sessions benefit every student, providing the differentiated instruction that remains an elusive goal in most public schools. Coaches are trained to challenge more proficient writers to reach for higher standards and to encourage students who are unmotivated or ashamed of their poor English skills to start expressing their ideas in writing with confidence and pride. The inclusiveness of the program is especially beneficial for at-risk students because it eliminates the stigma associated with remedial tutoring and ensures that struggling writers who might otherwise fall through the cracks receive the help they need and too often do not seek on their own.
As WCC has expanded into increasingly challenging educational environments, we have refined our coach training to serve the many students who face the additional challenge of learning English as a second language. And as schools prepare for the heightened focus on writing that the new Common Core Standards demand, we are working with teachers and administrators to ensure that our coaches will provide the enhanced instructional support that is needed more urgently than ever.
Why WriterCoach Connection Matters
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This video was made possible by support from Monika and David Eisenbud and the Simons Foundation.
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Media Academy Video
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Learn how students and teachers respond to WCC's writer coaching
in this short video produced by students at Fremont High School's
Media Academy in Oakland.
in this short video produced by students at Fremont High School's
Media Academy in Oakland.
