Dear PW'ers,
As some of you may know, I have left the ranks of full-time graduate students and returned to teaching.
I am the writing teacher for the entire 5th and 6th grades at KIPP Reach College Prep, which is a public charter school that serves largely poor minorities. For the last three years, we've been the best middle school in Oklahoma according to state test scores. But writing was never a priority... until now.
My task is to launch an entire writing department and create the school's writing curriculum. In short, I am trying to take the PW approach - regular feedback, high standards, and always writing with publication in mind - and and make it work with middle schoolers.
The challenge is class size. There's one of me, and I teach 6 classes of 35 student a pop. (I'll let you do the math or simply trust me - it's ugly.) To do this, I need help... and, grant-willing, I can pay.
So, if interested please writing back with what you'd consider a fair wage. $10 hr? $15 hr? What if we pay for your gas?
The job would essentially be reading student work in front of them, and offering targeted feedback. I would train you, because fledgling writers need a little more sugar with criticism than we're used to.
Again, the grant is only in the early drafting stage, but any feedback or show of interest would increase the chances of successfully securing funding.
Further suggestions are appreciated. So are volunteers. :)
Keep writing,
Will Prescott
5th and 6th grade Writing Teacher
KIPP Reach College Prep
405-343-4096
P.S. Several of our graduating 8th graders are headed off to private boarding school on full scholarship. In addition, one of those students also won a $10,000 scholarship from the KIPP foundation. Here is a link to the 2 minute feature story that aired last week on KOCO.
http://www.koco.com/video/17067997/index.html
And here's a link to KIPP's national office. For more info, on the school.
www.kipp.org
William D. Prescott
University of Oklahoma
office no. 405-325-2710