Reflecting on Young Writers and My Experiences as a Writing Coach- Blog Post 5

     When we first discussed the writing coach work we would be doing with high schoolers, I was extremely excited. I could finally get the chance to interact with (although virtually) students in high school and get to see their writing. Also, I could think about coaching them and working together on growing their writing, which seemed a lot less anxiety-inducing than the prospect of eventually assigning a grade to students' writing. This experience has been just as exciting as I had imagined then, although I do have a limited amount of writing to base my opinions on for this blog post. Unfortunately, I have only received writing from three students, all of whom were writing the same "reading response" format. I have heard from most of my students in some form or another, although I have not received any drafts of their writing. Of course, I totally understand why some other circumstances have prevented these students from being able to send me their drafts; this just means my perspective so far on this blog post is a bit limited. 

     It is interesting to think of how feedback from teachers, coaches, and peers can shape and support the writing of young people. These different roles are tied with different social status that can change how a student receives feedback and how motivated they feel in response to this feedback. When I think about one of the major ways motivation and excitement towards writing can be squashed or supported, I think about the power teachers have over their students. Teachers are in a position different from peers and coaches because ultimately they will be the one assigning a grade to the writing. In other words, the definitive quality of writing can ultimately be boiled down to a mere percentage. For this reason, I think what young writers need from their teachers is openness to explain their perspectives and ideas. Originally, I thought young readers might benefit most from encouragement from their teachers, but I kept getting hung up on the advice from McAndrew and Registad which stated "writers are particularly sensitive and suspicious when tutors give them a steady stream of positive comments." A teacher's freedom to encourage revision and to support their students in the drafting and editing process seems to be what students need most from their teachers. This Carnegie Mellon article has some very helpful ways teachers can be supportive in this way.

     When it comes to writing coaches and peers, students are often choosing to share their writing with the hopes of helpful commentary. This choice to share their writing puts young writers in a vulnerable place and it also shows the writing coach/peer that they are trusted to see and hopefully help revise a student's draft. Although peers and writing coaches do not have the intimidating aspect teachers have with grades, they are looked up to by the young writer as someone who is knowledgeable and able to offer helpful commentary. For this reason, students need honestly in the form of kind, specific commentary that points to areas of improvement. The specificity of feedback is something I believe young writers need most from a writing coach. While peers may not have enough experience with writing to pinpoint their suggestions, an experienced writing coach can identify specific suggestions to improve writing. One suggestion I found myself making repeatedly making was related to the structure of writing and ensuring each argument that students made was supported with textual evidence. When I was a peer editor in high school, I know I would have never been able to make these suggestions then. The part that I am most stuck on is what do young writers need most from peers. When I was a peer editor, I did a pretty bad job, even going as far as making a friend cry because of harsh, probably unnecessary comments. In reflecting on it now, I think what young readers need most from their peers is an openness to developing writing and continuing revision. Peer editors are in a similar position as the writer because they too have writing that is most likely being revised and an openness to the process of revision is valuable for encouraging the freedom of play in revision and writing. As I have mentioned, there are a few marked differences between what young writers need from teachers, coaches, and peers; however, all three of these roles play unique parts in supporting the growth and continuous revision of writing.