Each of my students this year received an online writing mentor who helped them every week on Google Docs.
It was a huge commitment for the 23 adults who volunteered. The more I thank them, the more I recognize how much more I should thank them.
Here’s another reason to thank them: My students, in their end-of-year evaluations, had huge praise for their online writing mentors. Not one student reported a negative experience. Here are some quotes:
- “My mentor helped me with grammar and editing on a college level.”
- “My mentor was helpful, challenging, knowledgeable, friendly, and supportive.”
- “It was good to have another adult besides my teacher to edit my work.”
- “My writing mentor knew my writing style so he could help me even more.”
- “My mentor knew what he was talking about and helped me my writing make sense.”
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Thank you again, Online Writing Mentors! As a teacher, I can devote maybe 15 minutes per student per week. Without you, my students’ writing would not have grown as much as it did. Thank you again for your dedication.
Thank you, Mark! It was really a pleasure to be able to be involved and help out in a small, consistent way. Thank you for creating this unique project, your students are very lucky to have someone in the classroom with them who clearly cares so much about them and the progression of their work.
And thank you, Nicole! I have to say, I’ve never heard of anyone else doing this kind of project before — the combination of the online aspect plus the consistency, week after week (after week!). My students appreciate your commitment so much. (They’re likely to appreciate you even more as time goes on.)
It was enormously satisfying to see my mentee’s progress over the year. This project gave me an even greater appreciation for teachers. Thanks for letting me participate.
Thank you so much, Reama! Your work was instrumental. This project got me thinking about how important it is to connect students as often as possible with real college-educated professionals. (Teachers aren’t “real.” 🙂 )