In our session with our mentor today, I volunteered to have my story critiqued first. Not because I am brave or confident. I volunteered because I am eager to learn how to become a better writer.Arizona Republic Travel Editor Jill Cassidy modeled good coaching. First, she talked about what she liked in my article, what she thought the strength was. I was quite relieved that there WAS a strength. Only then did she make suggestions for revision.
She didn’t rewrite passages for me, as I tend to do for my students. Instead, she pointed out the trouble spots, talked about what made them troublesome and then made general statements about how to revise.
I learned not just from what Cassidy said about my story, but also from her comments on other groupmembers’ stories.
Hearing advice about writing from a professional writer is much more valuable than just hearing from teachers or textbooks.
I am also working to overcome my fear of overusing “said.” Cassidy assured us that we can’t overuse it. It disappears into the background. This is the same advice my creative writing teacher in college gave me.
Although I may toss in a few “addeds,” I will eschew “says” and “according to.”
Her enthusiasm for coaching struck me as well. What a great model for coaching writers! I appreciated her honesty. I think far too often we try to gently break the news that writing has problems to our students instead of addressing any issues directly.
ReplyDeleteWhile she offered guidance, I felt full ownership over my work because Cassidy never jumped in to rewrite it for me. Instead, I was able to talk it out with her, bouncing ideas until something sounded right.
My eyes were opened to what good coaching should look like. I am excited about coaching my students!
Lynsie Brenner
Putnam City North High School
Oklahoma City, Okla.
I have been struggling with "saids" too. I used every other verb I could think of and then saw them altered in red ink!
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