WriterCoach Connection
Community SubscriberWriterCoach Connection is an Oakland-based 19-year-old non-profit organization focused on helping middle school and high school students build critical thinking skills through writing. Our trained, background-checked volunteer writing coaches have helped more than 35,000 students in schools around East Bay. Due to COVID-19, we have, in three weeks, transformed from a completely in-person, in-school coaching model for 1500 students and expanded to online to offer in-school and drop-in coaching to any middle or high school student at no charge to schools or students through September, 2020. Teachers, parents and students can learn more at www.writercoachconnection.org/online
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Sept 2005
Why do so many WriterCoach Connection volunteers return each year to coach teens? Become a writing coach and see why diverse parent and community volunteers find 1 to 2 hours per week in their hectic schedules to make a difference in the public schools. You don't need to be a writer or teacher. Join a writing coach team at a Berkeley middle school or at Berkeley or Albany High and enjoy the satisfaction of helping kids gain confidence, improve skills, complete assignments and succeed.
WCC pairs trained volunteers with students to help them master writing and critical thinking skills. Coaches commit to a regular, 1 or 2-hour per week assignment and meet during the school day to work with students in their English/history classes. Last year WCC coaches helped 2,500 students in 90 classes.
To become a coach, register now for one of our fall trainings and learn step-by-step methods to coach students, including your own.
For information or to register, see our website: www.writercoachconnection.org (go to Volunteer) 510-524-2319
In the words of one coach, The glint in the eye when you strike a chord is worth it all.
Lynn M.
I'd like to second Lynn's pitch for the Writer Coach Connection and add a few observations that might help people decide if this is for them.
This is the most satisfying volunteer work I've done in the Berkeley schools.
On a practical level, a number of elements make it different:
one, you receive training and support from experienced staff and feedback from your clients, the students, in an organized, professional way;
two, the teachers whose classes you coach are also trained, so there is buy-in from both sides;
and three, the coaching is total immersion-every kid gets coaching so that no one is singled out as a ''dummy'' or ''gifted.''
On the less tangible level, you get to enjoy the extreme privilege of one-on-one communication with a student in a wonderfully neutral capacity-you are neither parent, teacher, sibling, or peer. It allows engagement on a totally different level for both of you.
Phyllis
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