Writing Coach Reflection
Working with writers to provide feedback has always intimidated me as an educator. I have never been particularly confident in my ability to understand the writing process, much less coach someone else who is learning how to navigate it. I often worry that my feedback is surface-level, unclear, unhelpful, or even unwanted. Early in my teaching career, I adopted a philosophy of not heavily evaluating grammar, spelling, or sentence structure unless it significantly affected the student’s ability to communicate their ideas. Instead, I focused on whether students were able to convey their learning, message, claims, and reasoning in an organized and compelling way. For a long time, I worried that this approach meant I was overlooking something important about teaching writing. Throughout this course, however, I have started to realize that my instincts about coaching writing were not that far off. Looking back at some of the feedback I have given students over the years, I can see tha...
