Seed #5: Beginner's Guide to Gardening: My Experience as a Writing Coach

Embracing the Weeds: my highs and lows as a writing coach

My experiences as a writing coach (both in and out of this course) molded my perceptions of education and of myself as a prospective teacher. The most important lesson I learned through my experiences is to have patience and let the student take the lead in their writing. This may seem obvious, but it is a common impulse to want to "jump in" and guide a student's writing in what you may think is the best direction. Being able to take a step back and remind yourself that you are the coach, not the player, has been a hard but vital lesson to becoming an effective writing coach.

The role of a writing coach is distinctly different from that of a teacher because we are strictly there to support, not to grade. While teachers also take on the role of a writing coach in many ways, they still have the responsibility to guide the class, manage the needs of all students, and evaluate student work. Writing coaches have the privilege to work with smaller chunks of students at a time, which gives more room for in-depth support. This ability to laser-focus on smaller groups can be extremely helpful, but it begs the question: what type of support do students need from their writing coaches?

I found there were two key strategies to my success as a writing coach:

1. Allow students to choose to work with you.

Again, this may seem simple, but giving students the ability to opt-in or opt-out put less pressure on receiving feedback from me and let them evaluate when and where my services were most helpful to them in their writing process. In an education system where their consent is rarely valued, giving them that agency often opens them up to the feedback process. You are there solely to help the students, and they have every right to refuse that help.

2. Communicate clearly about the type of feedback they're looking for.

It can be tempting to dive into the editing process and propose several changes that you deem necessary in a draft. However, as discussed in Rebecca Segal's A Writer's Guide to Giving and Receiving Feedback, overediting without communicating with the author is often unhelpful and damaging to the author/editor relationship.

"Sometimes, you have to accept imperfection. However, in doing so, you can respect the author’s wishes and help maintain their voice. Not to mention, this keeps the feedback from impacting the relationship and is an approach that will more likely motivate them to work with you again." (Segal, pg 98)

Having conversations before beginning feedback or beginning feedback with a clear objective ensures that you are respecting the authorship of the student without inserting your own voice and producing feedback that is genuinely helpful. Oftentimes I've found that students may just need a conversation about their project where you give verbal feedback rather than in-depth comments on their work. I've found that many novice writers struggle most with sentence starters and organizing their ideas, so verbal feedback or feedback centered on building a solid structure can be incredibly helpful.

Feedback Needs From Teachers

As I've stated before, teachers often act as writing coaches, but writing coaches do not take on the role of the teacher (in the authority/grading sense). Teachers follow many of the same principles of feedback that writing coaches do, but there are changes that come with their responsibility to evaluate student work.

As a writing coach (both for this course and for M3) I didn't have to worry as much about technical elements of writing like grammar or structure (unless otherwise stated by the teacher). My main job was to encourage students and help them feel comfortable with writing, regardless of their end result. Of course, helping them meet assignment criteria and building a cohesive work of writing was a large part of that, but it was not my main goal. Writing coaches' main priority is to encourage and support student writing. While teachers share these goals, they have the additional responsibilities of critiquing and grading work based on specific criteria.

Teachers should be finding a way to conference with students and give verbal or written feedback at every stage of the writing process. Since they act more as authority figures in the classroom than a writing coach, it is important to be careful in how feedback is given during the brainstorming and drafting stages of the writing process, as over-critiquing may come off as a rejection of a student's ideas. It's important to find the balance of guiding students in the direction they want to go while maintaining a hands-off approach that allows students to explore their writing process freely.

Assessing student's writing processes and collaborating with them on a set of goals for their writing to check in on at various stages helps students maintain agency in writing while receiving valuable feedback. While a writing coach may be more involved in a student's process, teachers should adapt a "guide on the side" approach as to not overwhelm students. Every teacher will have different ideologies and approaches to giving student feedback, but the most important thing is to maintain student agency and preserve their voice in their writing. Teachers must act as critics, collaborators, and writing coaches when assisting students with their writing processes, and balance those three roles based on individual student needs.

A Helpful Reminder:

Both coaches and teachers must remember that the writing process may be an intimidating, rigid, right/wrong structure for many novice writers. The way we conduct feedback as a collaborative and consensual process can make the difference between the introduction to writing feeling like a warm welcome or a polar plunge. One article that I have found helpful both as an educator and as a writer is Anne Lamott's article Shitty First Drafts. This article encourages writers to approach their drafts with a sense of freedom and joy.

"The first draft is the child's draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page." (Lamott)

It's important that the feedback we give does not take away from the joy of the indulgent draft, but rather helps focus it into a polished piece of writing. Lamott's article is a reminder for teachers and students alike to lean into the mess of writing at every step of the process.

What about feedback needs from peers?

In some ways, peer feedback needs are similar to that of a writing coach or teacher. Each of these roles must communicate clearly with the author about feedback goals and conduct their feedback process with patience and respect.  However, the peer feedback process has many differences from the process of a writing coach or teacher. 

For one, peers are likely on the same or a similar level in content knowledge to the novice author they are critiquing. This creates a balance between editor and author and makes the feedback process a learning process for both parties. Additionally, peers typically are not required to be as in-depth with their feedback at every stage in the writing process the way an educator would be. 

Oftentimes the feedback model or direction for feedback is set by the teacher with certain qualifications added by the author. One model for peer feedback that I have found particularly helpful is the Bless, Press, Address model. In this feedback model, students select from one of these categories in order to direct feedback.

 This model helps novice writers understand what type of feedback is most helpful to them during that stage of the writing process, and aids communication between peers about expectations for feedback. Oftentimes peer feedback needs some kind of guidelines to steer focus, while teacher or writing coaches will have a more fluid approach based on specific student needs. 

Peer feedback also provides insights to novice authors from those in their age group that are going through the same process that may not occur in teacher/student feedback. Setting clear expectations, allowing multiple rounds of peer feedback at different stages in the writing process, and encouraging communication about feedback needs between peers helps set students up for success in giving and receiving comments on their work.