UVM Mentoring

8/9/2019 UVM Mentoring

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JULIET HALLADAY

SERVICE LEARNING FACULTY FELLOWS

MAY 12, 2010

Service-Learning in Literacy:

Mentoring for the Young Writers Project


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Course Overview

EDEL 176: Language Arts and Literacy Skills

Part of a 4-course, 12-credit block that includes a

3-credit field practicum

Required for all elementary education majors

Usually taken junior year


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Course Goals

Students who have successfully completed this courseshould be able to demonstrate their understandingsof:

How children develop as readers, writers, and speakers.Formal and informal methods of assessing students

strengths and needs as literacy learners.

Research-based practices for elementary literacy instruction.

Thoughtful instructional planning based upon priorknowledge and assessments of students.


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Selected Course Objectives

Students who have successfully completed thiscourse should be able to:Describe developmental differences in student writing,

related to skills in the areas of encoding (handwriting,spelling, etc.) and composition.

Plan and administer informal assessment methods,including structured observations, written responses

to student writing, and reading and writingconferences with individual students.


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Service-Learning Component

PreparationAction

Reflection

Evaluation


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Preparation

1/27/10

Lee McIsaac of the Young Writers Project (YWP) visits EDEL176 to introduce the project and to explain the mentors role.

We look at the YWP website, learn how to navigate it, and

discuss characteristics of effective comments.We collaborate on drafting and posting a comment on a

students writing.

2/3/10

Using laptops from the cart, students work in groups of 2-3 todraft and post several comments.

We debrief the process as a group and address any questions.


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Action

Students leave comments on their own, as weekly homework 3 comments due each Friday.

We check in weekly during class to discuss any questions or

issues.We draw on the YWP work during our class discussions of

writing development and assessment.


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Sample Mentor Comments

Wow! Great poem, the readers can really relate to this topic! Lots of kidshave to deal with a parent who is far away, so this is really appealing toall of those children! I love how you made this poem rhyme. Itcaptures the interest of many readers! For next time, try to go into alittle more depth. How do you feel about your dad leaving? Are you

upset with him or are you okay with it? Keep writing!

Great work! I am excited for you! A trip to Singapore will be lots of fun,and it is fun to read this piece about what you anticipate it will be likethere. If you were to keep writing I would love to see you using moredetails and information. What do you know about Singapore? Do you

like flying? Overall, great work! I look forward to seeing more of yourwriting and hearing about Singapore.


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Sample Student Responses

Thank you for the feedback on my piece, as well as the compliments,and I think you're right that I should add something or somereason for my walking. Thanks so much, it's good to hear a UVMmentor like my piece.

Thank you for the feedback. I will try revising it and I will post itagain. Thank you!

thanks i actually wrote this story a few years ago when i was youngerand when i read it over the other day and posted it i was actuallythinking that i should add more to that part but wasn't sure, now i

know i definitely should. Thanks!Thank you, both of you. It's tremendously helpful to have your input,

and I'll certainly take your suggestions to heart.


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Reflection

Informal reflection during weekly check-insFormal reflection through a written paper at the

end of the semester: Through your experiences as an online mentor for the

Young Writers Project What did you learn about students and student writing,

especially in terms of differences across grade levels?

What did you learn about the process of giving feedback onstudent writing?

What did you learn about yourself as a writer?

How would you describe the value of this project, both foryou and for the YWP writers?


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Sample Reflection Comments

I think that commenting on their writing was a really important exercise forme because I am soon going to be reading, editing, and commenting onmy own students writing, and I am willing to take all of the practice thatI can get.

Im really lucky to have been able to be part of this project. Simply beingable to leave comments on students work was a good feeling. Manystudents look up to those comments to continue their work so I think itgave me a deeper feeling to continue the task.

At first I thought this would be a frivolous assignment that wouldnt really

accomplish anything in my learning. Not only was I completely wrong,but I learned a good amount about student writing and what to expectacross the grade ranges.


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More Reflection Comments

I already knew how to give feedback for student writing, but this has givenme much more practice at guiding student learning in a polite andappropriate manner. I developed approaches for giving feedback in anappropriate way that makes them feel enthused to fix the mistakesinstead of feeling criticized and discouraged.

When I was first giving these comments I didn't think that anyone wasgoing to read my feedback, or that it didn't really matter. But I foundwhen looking back at my comments that one of the students wrote backto me and actually altered some of their writing the way I suggested. Thismade me feel like this exercise was worthwhile.

It was also beneficial to practice structuring feedback. I found that the ideaof one praise and one area of improvement extended beyond my youngwriters project into my work in math and other areas.


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Evaluation

5/3/10

Lee McIsaac visits again to thank the mentors and to solicittheir feedback on YWP and on the mentoring program.

Learned a lot about student writing and the feedback process Felt most worthwhile when they knew their comments had been

read

Sometimes struggled with the lack of personal connections

As of May 10, 2010, the 25 UVM mentors had posted 737comments through the YWP website.


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Successes

Overwhelmingly positive feedback from the communitypartner High-quality comments from mentors

Increased overall site activity, both writing and commenting

Students eager to write for a real audienceMentors comments serve as models for others

Positive responses from K-12 students and teachers

and from the mentors

Value of seeing a range of student writing Good practice of an essential skill (giving feedback on student work)

Felt authentic and worthwhile


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Problems & Questions

A few mentors didnt complete the required number ofcomments

There was some resistance to the impersonal nature of thementoring

Some students reported having difficulty coming up withnew things to say each week

How could the project be improved to make it seem morebeneficial and worthwhile?

What can be done to build a more personal connection withthe young writers?


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For more information

http://youngwritersproject.org/
http://youngwritersproject.org/http://youngwritersproject.org/

Documents

UVM Mentoring