My first day “on the job” as a coach for Writing Coaches of Montana had me feeling very much intimidated. Sure, I’d gone through the training session and I’d shadowed my Mentor Coach to see how this process works. But now I was on my own. Would I know how to help these students? Would I ask the right questions, and would my suggestions be useful to these young minds? Could I help them learn to write well, and more importantly, learn to love writing?
Just as the students at times find writing awkward and challenging, coaching that day was for me... awkward and challenging. But I persisted that day and beyond, and with some encouragement, so did my students. Over time we both got better at our respective duties. And then, with enough time and practice, a magical thing started to occur: we both started enjoying this process! As the school year progressed I found myself looking forward to coaching, and the students always seemed eager to be coached.
Many WCM coaches are retired educators. I am not. I’ve been a student for a large portion of my life, but now I was being asked to be the educator, the mentor. At first I felt pressured by this responsibility. What I’ve come to see in the two years that I’ve been coaching thus far, is that I’m not really there to teach these precious young writers. Rather, I’m there almost as a mirror: their ideas, their thoughts are the focus, and I’m just bouncing those ideas back so that they can grasp them, massage them, and form them into an essay that says what they want to say. Once I realized that, the fun of coaching began.
This is not to say that it’s easy. Every student is an individual, with their own academic strengths and weaknesses and their own perspectives on writing. Some have significant pressures from life outside the classroom that weigh heavily upon them, almost overshadowing any school assignment. Added to that is the fact that our coaching sessions are usually brief, typically with 15 or 20 minutes to spend with each student. It can be hard to quickly develop a plan to help a student in that short time. Sometimes I wonder who is more overwhelmed, the student or me?! I’ve learned that when an essay needs so much work that that I don’t know where to start, it’s often best to ask the student: “What do you feel you need help with today?” More often than not, they know exactly where they could use help. So we talk about that portion of their process. If we can work through the bump in the road where they feel they’re struggling most, they seem so relieved! They then have some momentum, and the rest of the assignment doesn’t seem so formidable to them.
It can be mentally exhausting, this coaching stuff. It’s like a game of tennis, where every piece of the coaching interaction is a volley back and forth between the student and me. They hit the ball; I return it to them. Back and forth, the ideas flow, but always the goal is to have them in charge of the process, of the ideas. I’m just there to help them uncover their ideas, and to find ways for them to express them in words. By the end of each session, if I’ve done my job, my brain is tired.
So why do I keep coming back for more? Why do I eagerly check my calendar when a new email comes in from our coordinator, asking for volunteers for a coaching opportunity that’s just come in?
It’s because of the looks on the faces and in the eyes of these young people when the light bulb comes on as they work on their essays. It’s that excitement they radiate when they realize that their ideas really are good, and that they have the skills—to whatever degree they’ve built them thus far—to express their ideas in writing. It’s as if it never before occurred to them that they could do this. They can write. And they have something to say!
I fell hopelessly in love with coaching one winter afternoon after a writing session with a middle schooler who’d just had an “aha” writing moment. “Thank you!” he exclaimed as he packed up to leave at session’s end. “You helped me so much! I don’t think I could have done it without you!”
I can’t do without you either, young fellow! To experience the joy of falling in love with writing over and over again with these students, is a privilege too good to forego. Now hit me that WCM tennis ball... the school year is about to begin!
