When seniors at Boulder's Fairview High School want feedback on their writing, they can get it via the Internet from students, faculty and staff at the University of Colorado or from local business professionals.
A pilot program launched in fall 1998 with 20 students is planned to expand to 100 high school students this semester, said Fairview English teacher Randy Rothberg.
"It's exciting to send a paper out into the community," said Rothberg, who pursued the idea based on a parent's suggestion. "I definitely think the students have felt well received by people on the other end, and the comments have been appreciated, even when they weren't flattering."
The Fairview Internet Writing Center is operated by a team of people including Rothberg; Mary Queen, CU-Denver writing instructor; and Sally Susnowitz, a science writing instructor in the department of environmental, population and organismic biology at CU-Boulder.
The program introduces students to community members who can help them develop appropriate writing skills in addition to further acquainting them with technology, Susnowitz said. As director of CU-Boulder's Service Learning Program, Susnowitz strives to provide CU students with learning experiences in addition to filling a community need.
"It's the win-win policy of a student learning more and the community getting what it needs," Susnowitz said.
Local businesses participating in the program include the Daily Camera, Storage Technology Corp. and Allegro Word Processing. The program was launched because of a grant proposal written by Fairview parent Janet Rodina and funded by the Boulder Valley School District Foundation.
Fairview students who have used the program found it helpful.
"It's nice to have another opinion than Mr. Rothberg's," said Lindsay Ehlers, a 17-year-old senior in Rothberg's advanced placement language and composition class. Lindsay said she expected the readers to just edit her papers, but found that they also provided different opinions and suggested new areas for research that were really helpful.
A classmate agreed. "I think it will help a lot in my professional life to be able to write to other people's expectations," said 17-year-old Amber Wobbekind, also a senior.
Introducing students to the idea of writing for a different audience was perhaps the program's biggest attraction, Rothberg said. Students become so accustomed to writing for one audience -- their teacher -- that getting different feedback is exciting, he said.
"Student writing is a community-wide concern and teachers -- given the size of our classes -- can use the help," he said.
The program offers students personal attention and supplements classroom writing instruction, Susnowitz said. It also uses communications systems that reflect future learning and business environments and that create a better awareness of the community.
One volunteer reader is Susan Gao, 23, an administrative assistant in the CU-Boulder humanities department and an undergraduate psychology student. Gao had wanted to get involved in tutoring, but most of the chances to work with students were after school let out in the afternoon when she was tied up working until 5 p.m.
"Here was a perfect opportunity," she said. "I could work and do the reading on my own time, after work. It worked out beautifully for me."
Gao said she got lots of useful advice from the program coordinators on Fairview's writing standards and how to provide constructive criticism to students.
More volunteer commentators are being sought. People who are interested should contact Susnowitz at 303-492-4345 or sally.susnowitz@colorado.edu or Mary Queen at queen@maroon.cudenver.edu. The Fairview Internet Writing Center Web page can be reached at fowc.lorien.ml.org.