Writing Marathons Help Build Middle School Students’ College Aspirations and Strengthen Their Literacy Skills

Abstract

Young adolescents' low scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) force the question of whether these students will be ready for college in four years. Our efforts to build a college-going culture emphasize strengthening students' writing skills by using preservice teachers to lead writing marathons for at-risk middle school students on university visits. Structured interviews, surveys, and written reflections reveal that what students write about changes with age, their motivation to write varies, and their college aspirations and perceptions become more positive after completing several annual writing marathons on a college campus. The writing marathon structure makes the college visit truly meaningful to students, and it provides a compelling incentive to write by supporting characteristics of middle school students, as defined by the National Middle School Association (National Middle School Association [NMSA] 2003). The marathon model focuses on four key elements: setting, timing, small groups, and writers' level of commitment.

Strategies to Prepare Middle School and High School Students for College and Career Readiness

“…We suggest incorporating a writing-marathon (Radcliffe and Stephens 2009;Stephens, Radcliffe, and Schaefer 2007) into the university tours because it supports the three goals of the previously described tour. Richard Louth (2002), of the Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project, describes a writing-marathon as a visit to an engaging and new setting where a small group of writers walk and explore, stop to write about what they are experiencing, and then share their writing.…”

Redefining academic library work: Telecommuting potential in post-COVID Ghana

“…Similarly, Madsen (2003) sees telecommuting as an advantage for both the organization and the employee that makes it possible to motivate workers and reduce the costs involved with travel. Some examples of the savings that can be made by an organization include the costs of water, electricity, Internet bills, cleaning and security, and salaries (De Graaff and Rietveld, 2006; Radcliffe, 2010). With the increasing costs of housing and the geographical spread of workers, employees are being compelled to adopt telecommuting to ensure productivity, retention and job satisfaction (Pearce, 2008).…”