Writing Zones 12.5

We are excited to have started mentoring full-steam at Kennett High School, and as of November 2, will be starting up at the Chester County Alternative Education Program. Dozens of teachers and far more students have used West Chester WZ mentors to assist with all kinds of writing.

But what do mentors do in these sessions with students?

Writing Zones, like all writing centers, works on the philosophy that writers need support to be better writers, not have their writing "fixed." That means that mentors start by listening and asking questions. They also start with "early concerns" such as addressing the assignment (if there is one), focus, organization, development, clarity and coherence. "Later concerns"--word choice, punctuation, grammar, syntax, proofreading, citation--are not ignored, but come exactly that, later.
Mentors are trained to think of sessions as building the writers' capacities to be a better, more engaged, more savvy writer, independently, down the road. On a moment-to-moment basis, what that looks like varies, but can include:
* Reflecting: "Ok, what I hear you saying is that you are concerned with whether you are doing the assignment."
* Clarifying: "Your teacher wrote that your paper lacks coherence. What does that mean to you? What do you think it means to her?"
* Affirming: "As a reader, I am really caught by your opening."
* Stepping back: "So, this college application asks for a piece of reflective personal writing, like a memoir. So, let's make sure we both have the same understanding of what that is--what is a memoir?"
* Developing strategies: "So, you used commas correctly here, here and here. But here you have a problem. So, why did you put the commas in there, there and there? What about here? What rule was in your head? Let's check that in a handbook."
* Modeling: "I know--I can procrastinate sometimes too. I have really had to work on it, and I'm better about it now. What gets in your way of getting stuff done in advance?"
* Writing together: "Ok, let's both brainstorm for five minutes--you on your topic, me on mine."