Writing Coach

Description

The Posse Foundation is a nationally recognized youth leadership development and college access program that identifies, recruits, and trains diverse teams—Posses—of public high school students and sends them to top colleges and universities. To date, a total of 4,237 Posse Scholars have been accepted into top-tier institutions of higher education throughout the country. These young people have received $486 million in full-tuition leadership scholarships from Posse's college and university partners and have been agents of positive change on their campuses.

Posse's unique and carefully structured, three-month selection process identifies candidates using criteria beyond academic achievement, including leadership talent, desire to succeed and ability to work constructively with people from diverse backgrounds. Posse's high school through college programming makes it one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind in the nation. In 2007, the Posse Foundation was identified by President Obama as one of 10 national non-profit organizations to receive a portion of his Nobel Peace Prize grant. The foundation is poised to double in size over the next ten years and dramatically increase its national impact.

Posse's current university partners include:

Agnes Scott, Babson, Bard, Boston University, Brandeis, Bryn Mawr, Bucknell, Carleton, Centre, Colby, The College of Wooster, Connecticut College, Cornell, Denison, DePauw, Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Grinnell, Hamilton, Hobart and William Smith, Kalamazoo, Lafayette, Lawrence, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Northwestern, Oberlin, Pepperdine, Pomona, Sewanee, Syracuse, Texas A&M, Trinity, Tulane, Union, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas, Austin, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Vanderbilt, Vassar and Wheaton.

Volunteer Description: The Posse Foundation is currently seeking writing coaches to assist Posse Scholars in honing their writing skills. The writing component of the training program is critical to the pre-collegiate work with Posse Scholars.

Posse needs two types of coaches:

1. Group Writing Session Coach: Coaches who teach and co-facilitate six writing sessions for a Posse of ten students over the course of three months. These coaches will help Scholars bridge the gap between high school-level writing and college-level writing. The Group Writing Coach will conduct each writing session with a Posse staff member.

Responsibilities include:

• Meeting with Posse Scholars as a group biweekly for approximately three months, following a writing curriculum designed to address the expectations of college level writing; these biweekly sessions will occur on either a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday from 4-6pm
• Being available to Scholars outside of scheduled writing sessions if help is needed
• Providing thoughtful and constructive comments to Scholars on their writing assignments
• Meeting with a Posse staff member to plan each writing workshop

Required Training/Orientation: All Group Writing Coaches must attend a mandatory training and orientation session. (exact date to be determined).

1. Individual Writing Coach: Coaches who create their own "office hours" and tutor Scholars one on one according to their own schedule. These coaches will help Scholars identify their writing strengths and weaknesses and provide tailored feedback. Each Individual Writing Coach will be assigned to a Posse and will work with 1-2 Scholars. Scholars are required to meet with their assigned Writing Coach a minimum of three times during the Writing Program. Once that minimum has been met, it will be up to the Scholar and the Coach to determine whether further meetings are possible and/or necessary. The Coach and the Scholar decide the date, time, and location of their meetings. Posse's office is available as a meeting location weekdays from 10am to 6pm.

Required Training/Orientation: Individual Coaches who have never been a Posse Writing Coach before must attend a mandatory orientation session. ALL individual coaches will then attend the first writing session with their assigned Scholar(s). (exact date to be determined)

Qualities/Qualifications:

• Professional or significant experience in writing
• Ability to work effectively with a group (for group coaches)
• Ability to work well with youth
• Ability to provide clear and concise feedback on writing
• Ability to work well in a team
• Bachelor's degree required
• Time flexibility