Teaching Writing

Dr. Sean Meehan

Service Learning Project

Becoming a Writing Mentor

“teaching is always done at the dangerous intersection of personal and public life.”

--Parker Palmer

As is emphasized in the reading and theory of this course, in the writing process model we find in Writing Down the Bones and Inside Out, writing (in all forms) mediates a link between the personal and the public, the individual and some larger audience or community. With this in mind, you can understand that the service learning component of this course serves two related purposes. It enables each of you an opportunity to serve as a writer and mentor of writing within a larger community, a community in need of better strategies for a more effective and insightful grasp of literacy. It equally enables each of you to learn from this larger community and audience, to put ideas from the readings and theory into practice, to bring lessons from the community back into the classroom and into your learning.

Here are the required components of the service learning portion of this course.

1]Mentoring.

Set up a 10-hour (minimum) mentoring situation with a writer (in need of mentoring) from the community. This mentoring need not be remedial; it can be with a student or an adult. I suggest you choose a situation that is of interest to you as a writer and teacher of writing: work with English language learners, work with adult literacy, work with a creative writer after school, work with writing and technology. There are a range of possibilities I will expect you to explore with my guidance. The mentoring must be set up by October 23 at the latest. There needs to be an adult contact (teacher, supervisor, etc) that I can contact regarding the mentoring. Keep track of your hours using the service learning log [attached here]. You will turn in your completed log: failing to do at least 10 hours means a 0 for this component of the project.

2]Lesson plan.

Along with your final reflection, you will turn in a copy of a lesson plan from at least one of your mentoring sessions. This lesson plan might be part of the work you did for the curriculum writing project; it might be something entirely new. In terms of format, think of this lesson plan as a shortened version of your curriculum project: it should indicate a principle/theory you are working on and list specific activities for that session. If your curriculum project directly overlapped with your service project, you are welcome to turn in all or part of it for this requirement.

3]Further reading.

Much as you did for your curriculum project, you will do another further reading, exploring an article that might be of help to you in your service project. Write a one page summary of the reading. This will be included with your final submission.

4]Journal writing.

At least 3 journal entries written during and about your mentoring experience, reflecting on what is happening, what issues you are encountering, what applications from the class you are making. I suggest using your journal whenever you can soon after a mentoring session. But at least 3 will be expected when I assess your journals at the end of the term. These entries should be clearly marked [Service learning project: reflections]. For those of you doing electronic journals, you can copy/paste these entries into your final submission.

5]Final Reflection and discussion.

Due the last two classes: a draft of your 2-3 page reflection and assessment of your mentoring experience is due: what you learned from this service, what you were able to apply from the course, what you are able to apply from the experience back to some of the reading and theory. The final version of this reflection is part of your final portfolio. In addition, during this final class, students will present their reflections orally and respond to questions posed by the professor and others regarding their experience.

Assessment

Overall this service learning project is worth 100 points, approximately 10% of your final grade. The 100 points will be determined in the following.

1]Completion of mentoring: 20 points

2]Lesson Plan: 20 points

3]Further reading: 20 points

4]Journal entries: 20 points

5]Final reflection: 20 points

Rubric for lesson plan, further reading, and journal entries:

20 points: did it completely

15 points: did it mostly

10 points: did it partially

0 points: didn't do it

Rubric for the final reflection

Describe and reflect on the mentoring you did this term: (a) what kind of writing issues you encountered with your mentee, (b) strategies and ideas from the course and from your own reading that you explored and applied, (c) lessons from the service learning experience that you can apply back to the course and the overall focus on teaching writing.

16-20 points: writing fully and thoughtfully reflects on all 3 components given in guidelines

11-15 points: writing satisfies all or most components, but lacks thoughtfulness in its reflection

1-10 points: writing fails to address key components, lacks thoughtful reflection and appears unfinished or sloppy.

0 points: writing is not completed