In a Writing Buddies session, you can encourage your Buddy to write better. You can use simple, proven ways to achieve this.

Good writing is built on specific images. Children often need help capturing these images with concrete words. You can help a Writing Buddy write, “I like the big black fat tires on my monster truck,” instead of writing, “I like my truck because it’s cool.”

We train volunteers to pull such details out of their Buddies in the prewriting stage. We provide some simple tools you can use to remind your Buddy and yourself to write in specific detail. Among the simplest--but most effective--tools are the Question Generator and the Story Map.

More on Question Generator      More on Story Map

Another tool for quickly connecting with your little Writing Buddy the first time you two meet is the "What Do We Like?" worksheet. You can use this to collect your Buddy's likes and interests as well as your own. Your overlapping likes go in the middle.

                    More on "What Do We Like?"

In addition, we give volunteers information on state writing standards for each grade, how to deal with the varieties of personalities in the classroom, developmental stages of children at each age, and how Writing Buddies fits into the school.