One problem with America's students is their writing skills have declined. One problem with requiring kids to write lots of essays in class is that teachers don't have time to grade the essays, much less provide sufficient feedback for kids to improve their skills. But in Oakland, CA, two women who met working out at the same gym have come up with an innovative solution to this problem:
University of California has lots of partnerships with local high schools, but there's nothing quite like the plan two friends worked up between workouts at the Y. Ellen Switkes, a UC assistant vice president, wanted to help Oakland's public schools...History teacher Patricia Arabia figured she could use some help, especially when it came to reading the dozens of essays she assigned each week to her students at Fremont High School in Oakland.
So the two friends, who meet thrice weekly for workouts at the YMCA, hatched a plan that enlists legions of volunteers from UC's Oakland headquarters as essay readers for students at Arabia's high school.
The program matches Switkes' desire to help with Arabia's needs -- but more importantly it helps students improve their writing skills...And the duo didn't let their idea become bogged in red tape. They just did it. On their own. Without asking the school...
Switkes points to the overwhelming response she received to an office-wide e-mail she sent asking for volunteers willing to spend about two hours a week reading essays. Nearly 100 people responded, she said, far more than she could really accommodate...
The readers don't grade the essays. That job still falls to Arabia and other teachers who participate in the partnership. The readers check grammar and spelling, cohesion of argument and verify that students cite mandatory second sources in their essays. They're also asked to provide feedback to the students, an important part of the learning process that Arabia says overburdened teachers are often unable to provide...
Arabia said the program paid dividends in her students' work.
"I was really pleased with the improvement," she said. "And when students reflected at the end of the year they felt they had improved on their writing."
It's an interesting idea, and it seems to be working. And bonus point to them for taking the initiative and just doing it - rather than going through channels and getting bogged down in red tape over a procedure that doesn't affect the grading of the essays. Teachers who have large classroom sizes and want to assign weekly essays would find this service to be a godsend.
There's an email provided for people who want to start a similar service in their cities. I wonder if Philly could use something like this?
Posted by kswygert at August 18, 2003 01:23 PM