Tutor Ready Writing
There are limited resources for adult writing tutors as compared to resources for tutoring reading. There are even fewer resources for tutors to use with low-level adult writers. However, there is a great demand for these resources. As adult literacy and ESL professional development experts who have worked in many states, they have heard programs across the country ask for help preparing their volunteers to tutor in writing. Tutor Ready Writing has been developed as a response to that need.
Tutor Ready Writing is a set of learning plans designed to provide volunteer tutors with training and information in a helpful and timely format. It is an excellent resource for programs to use to complement their pre-service and in-service training. Tutor Ready Writing is a free, online resource providing adult literacy tutors just-in-time answers to their questions about how best to help their learners improve their writing skills.
Four subject matter experts/national trainers from Portland State University, Kent State University, Sacramento Public Library, Alameda Reads, and a Literacy/Nonprofit expert developed the nine short modules. These modules use a question and answer format to present the most salient research-based information in bite-sized chunks that will make writing research accessible to tutors. Literacyworks was part of the team, providing tech support and designing the YouTube channel for Tutor Ready Writing. Funding came through a California Library Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant.
The nine modules feature 36 videos of tutor and learner interactions helping form individual learning plans based on the writing process and the principles and strategies of effective, research-based writing instruction. The videos were filmed using the project experts as tutors and actual adult learners as the tutorees.
Tutor Ready Writing Module Categories
The Writing Process
Pre-Writing
Getting Ideas on The Page - Some Drafting Strategies
Writing for Everyday Purposes
Working on Mechanics
Responding and Revising
Editing
Assessing Writing Progress
Using Learner-Generated Texts with English Language Learners
The pandemic has changed all of our lives in significant and diverse ways. As we have described before, our students are learning remotely, often with little technical support. Many are still out of work, living very close to the edge. Some students are supporting their children's efforts to keep up their studies online. The remarkable thing, most are making the best of this situation. As we speak to them, they are tired but optimistic about the future they are creating for themselves and their family. One word comes to mind when thinking of the Literacyworks students – resilience.
The work of the Center's staff has also changed dramatically over the past nine months. All communication is by phone or email. Our supportive 'in-person' workshops have turned into zoom meeting, which lacks connection between the staff and fellow students. We developed a plan to articulate how to reach our goal of supporting student success but do it differently. This is where the excellent staff of Santa Rosa JC has become so important. Over the past six years, the Center staff has developed close working relations with various people and programs at the College.
Counselors, outreach coordinators, and program directors have come to understand the Center's mission and have supported our efforts in so many ways. Now that Literacyworks Center staff's delivery of services was forced to change, the College's support has become invaluable.
We thank every person at SRJC who has worked so hard to help our students succeed.
We just learned that the Board of Trustees of the College has determined that remote learning will continue through the summer semester of 2021. Remote learning means more challenging times ahead in finding new ways to make a difference.
