WriteBoston - Methodology

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Mission Statement

Methodology

WriteBoston's mission is to change the attitudes of teachers and students about writing, increase the volume of writing in both in and out of school forums, and improve the writing proficiency of students in Boston's high schools. In order to achieve all of these mission's elements, the WriteBoston Writing Coach Model involves the coordination and support of school administration, staff, students, and community partners in order to build the "community of writers" necessary to impact writing attitude, volume, and proficiency.

Writing Coach Model Components

1. Frequency

The WriteBoston Writing Coach works an average of 15-25 hours a week at one of WriteBoston's schools. Within this flexible schedule, the coach works directly with a cluster of pre-determined teachers of diverse grade levels and subject matters. The only "prerequisite" of being a WriteBoston teacher is the desire to improve the teaching and evaluating of student writing.

2. Common Planning Time

The WriteBoston Writing Coach and cluster teachers meet regularly in order to plan, share, and reflect. At these meetings, a detailed agenda focuses meetings on curriculum, special events, and professional development opportunities. This is also time for sharing current classroom successes and concerns, lessons, and best practices.

3. Direct Classroom Support

The WriteBoston Writing Coach Model involves a strong collegial attitude among coach and teachers, creating classrooms where professionals observe, reflect, and co-teach with one another. The Writing Coach Model involves three aspects that, when examined as intertwined and blended elements, help to improve writing attitudes and writing scores.

Attitude
- Author visits
  
  While working with PEN New England, the Boston Globe, the Writers' Room, and other writing organizations, WriteBoston organizes author visits in each school. Before author visits, coaches work closely with teachers to examine curriculum, place the author within the course of study, design lessons exploring the genre and the author's work, and use the visit as a springboard for more writing. Authors reiterate writing technique and strategies, lead students in idea generating or work shopping, and inspire students to consider themselves writers.
- Writing events
  
  WriteBoston Coaches coordinate writing events to both celebrate writing and encourage student involvement in writing activities. Such writing events may include poetry slams, essay contests, or publishing parties honoring students whose writing is published in school and community forums. Coaches work closely with teachers and administrators to design and implement authentic and inspiring writing events in order to build a culture of writing throughout the school.

Volume
- Publishing student writing
  
  WriteBoston Coaches help teachers connect young writers with various publishing opportunities, including print newspapers, community newsletters, online forums, school-wide events, essay contests, and in-class assignments.
- Out-of-school writing intervention
  
  WriteBoston Coaches help with the facilitation of existing after-school programs or the development of programs focusing on writing. After-school or summer interventions may involve literary magazines, tutoring, internships, editorial boards, writing institutes, or citywide newspaper publications.
- Volunteers/mentors from local colleges, universities, business and community organizations
  
  WriteBoston Coaches coordinate volunteers and align their efforts with classroom curriculum to improve student attitude and generate more writing. Volunteers from the business and higher education community become guest speakers or serve as pen pals and writing mentors, providing students with both individual support and an audience for their writing.

Proficiency
- Professional development
  
  WriteBoston Coaches provide useful and engaging professional development for all participating WriteBoston teachers on both a formal and informal basis. This teacher-driven professional development is an opportunity for reflection and collaboration while writing experts, fellow teachers, writing coaches, and researchers present workshops and discussion groups concentrating on improving writing instruction and evaluation.
- Teaching and learning support
  
  WriteBoston Coaches work actively with teachers in the development implementation, and evaluation of curricula incorporating more writing activities within Language Arts or other subject area classrooms. These curricula will provide opportunities for meaningful and authentic writing experiences, establish ollaboration among colleagues, and help create a culture of writing within the school.
- Data analysis and implementation
  
  WriteBoston Writing Coaches work with admin- istrators and participating teachers to develop school-wide writing assessments and collect data on writing proficiency. Coaches assist in creating rubrics and establishing useful ways to analyze data so that key areas of intervention are determined, teachers measure student progress, and writing instruction is improved.

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