Program seeks volunteer writing coaches

Writing Coaches of Montana seeks community members in Flathead County to participate in its coaching program with the mission of helping local students improve their writing skills. Specifically, the program seeks to help students think critically about their writing assignments so they can become confident and competent writers.

Last August, in response to COVID-19, the group developed an online coaching program with the help of Executive Director Cassie Sheets, and Stefan Olson, a technology contractor. Writing coaches use Google Meet to conduct online coaching sessions with students.

Rita Braun, the program’s Flathead director, along with Cassie and Stefan, ran a successful pilot of the online program with Al Hammel’s 10th graders from Whitefish High School.

“I had an overwhelmingly amount of positive feedback from each and every one of my students about how much they valued their time with the writing coaches,” says Hammel.

He also expressed appreciation of the opportunity for his students to have human interaction and support from others in the Whitefish community.

Braun is currently seeking people interested in learning more about the program and becoming a volunteer online writing coach. A three-hour training session on how to become a writing coach will be held online Monday, Jan. 25, 6-8:45 p.m. Following that training, writing coaches will view a 45-minute video on their own time to learn how to conduct online coaching sessions with students.

Community members interested in learning more about the program and to volunteer can contact Braun at rita@writingcoachesofmontana.org. To learn more about the program, visit writingcoachesofmontana.org.