August, 2024
Welcome to the 2024 Reader/Writer school year. As usual, with the new year comes change. Schools shift, teachers shift, students shift….and so do we. The most notable change is a new school and new teacher, bringing the number of participating students to 400.
This year’s schools and their news;
Southwest High School: Ryan Vanthorre continues there but with more students (all enrolled in the International Baccalaureate). He’ll be teaching about 150 students, grades 9 and 10.. Many 10th graders will be his last-year’s 9th graders in a system called ‘looping’ whereby students have the same teacher for two years. More students mean more readers needed.
Franklin Middle School: Last year Franklin’s two new-to-the-profession English teachers struggled with ongoing suspensions, absentees and general classroom disruptions, making it difficult for students to engage in Reader/Writer. As a result, we are doing things differently there this year. 7th graders will be supported by writing contests and writing incentives by R/W and teacher Ashley Flattem’s direction. (They will not be assigned readers.) 8th graders will be assigned readers who will not edit but read and respond to content only. Teacher Andrew Bradford sees his students needing encouragement and listening to motivate them to write and lots of instruction and practice on the mechanics which he will provide.
Justice Page Middle School: Angel Dwyer will include more of her Special Education students in R/W this year and continue to do her immensely popular "‘Writer’s Cafe’.
Sanford Middle School: English teacher Thea Gutzmann and her 125 7th graders join us this fall for the first time. Sanford serves generally more economically stable youth which for us translates into students who generally attend consistently, giving readers more writing to read, edit and respond to.
Johnson High School, St. Paul: In the works is an intention to provide writing mentors (readers) for the football team. Head Coach Richard Magembe has reached out for support in preparing his young players for success in high school and beyond. We hope to be a piece of their path to their dream of playing college football and/or experiencing personal success.
Other changes:
This fall we are focusing on preparing new readers more thoroughly. Each prospective reader will receive a link to this website to peruse a packet of written material along with samples of student writing and reader responses and a request for a phone conversation with me.
Also, for groups at workplaces, we are once again offering a visit by me (and possibly others) to present the program to interested colleagues (what we used to do pre-Covid). With more people in the office more often, this may be an effective way of orienting new readers to the program and process.
We are seeking new sources for groups of readers, given the increased numbers in student writers. In the past we’ve partnered with groups from the MN Attorney General’s Office, St, Olaf College, Hamline University, and several businesses including Deloitte, Honeywell and Ecolab. Currently our partners include: HC Judicial District Court #4; Dorsey Whitney; Fredrikson Byron; Lockridge Grindal Nauen; and Robins Kaplan. We would love to expand with more readers from each of these—past and present participants.
What doesn’t change:
We continue to base our program on the relationships that readers and writers develop throughout a year of writing. In a chaotic, fast-changing world, making connections across generations, socio-economic backgrounds,—even just across the river—makes life richer and safer and infinitely more interesting for everyone. Reader/Writer serves to make that possible. We are a bridge.
Thank you Readers—veteran, new and prospective! We need each of you.
Lia Venchi
Reader/Writer Executive Director
liavenchi@readerwriter.org