In the spring of 2007, concerned that the volume of submissions to our Newspaper Series was so large that we were disappointing far more students than we were encouraging, we teamed up with University of Vermont Writing Center Director Sue Dinitz to see if we could get some of her top, trained tutors to provide feedback to the young writers. She jumped at the chance and each semester we've had at least a handful of student mentors from UVM providing feedback. We've also had students from St. Michael's College and Middlebury.
This fall, we involved students from Castleton College. They've been great. Castleton, interestingly, is one of the few colleges in the nation that requires all students to pass a rigorous writing test in order to graduate. Last semester and this we have about 40 to 45 students participating. Andrew Alexander, a professor at Castleton, is leading the group this spring and sees the program expanding to many more students at Castleton.
Here's why: The college students enjoy it. And they learn a lot about their own writing. And they gain quite a bit of satisfaction out of doing such a powerful thing for young writers. We have discovered, in surveys, that students receiving the most feedback feel best about themselves and their writing.
Here it is 1:15 a.m. and there are several college students online now giving feedback. Here's a piece of feedback one of the mentors wrote to a story written to the prompt "That is so annoying."
Ah, Sweet Family
I can relate to your sibling rivalry, except I was the young one with the missing teeth! You can see the love for your sister and brother through your writing even though you appear quite annoyed with their cuteness, this makes your piece endearing. Have you ever tried starting right in with a story about one or the other? You usually don't see 'though' as the first word in a piece, although it may add to the conversational tone.
Such a kind tone; so engaged; and so supportive.
Posted in
Submitted by ggevalt on Fri, 02/13/2009 - 01:19
Candace Page (not verified) | Sat, 02/14/2009 - 20:33
Geoff, It is great to see you writing again. Loved the metaphor of the Empire State Building ....
Candy
- reply
»Post new comment