Support Page Content
Writing Partners
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Writing Partner Program Summary
- Facilitate a letter exchange between K–12 students and college students
- Improve literacy skills among K–12 students
- Help college students develop a stronger sense of identity
- Encourage K–12 students to consider applying to college through mentorship from college students
- Demonstrate to both groups that writing can build meaningful connections across individuals and communities
Writing Partner Program Impact for K-12 Students:
- Strengthened literacy skills through reading and writing activities
- Felt encouraged by college students to think about graduating high school and pursuing higher education
- Built confidence about college, with one student sharing that “having my partner tell me how college isn’t as scary as I thought it was” made a difference
- Supported English/ Language Arts learning, with teachers noting the program positively enhances their curriculum
Writing Partner Program Impact for Sac State Students:
- Strengthened their identities as college students by reflecting on and writing about their academic experiences
- Developed mentorship skills through guiding and supporting younger writing partners
- Built leadership, communication, and confidence through meaningful peer interactions
- Gained a deeper understanding of the value of community connection and collaboration
- Inspired younger students, with one Sac State student noting they enjoyed “encouraging students to join the STEM field”
Goals and Learning Outcomes
The overall goals of Writing Partners @ Sac State include:
- Building and/or strengthening literacy
- Enhancing knowledge of writing through a letter exchange with a real audience
- Connecting Sac State students with K-12 students in the Sacramento region
- Using the letter exchange to help Sac State students articulate and reinforce their identities as ‘college students’
- Building relationships through literacy
- Encouraging elementary school students to begin to prepare for college and see themselves as college eligible
How Writing Partners Works
Writing Partners matches university students with elementary school students in a collaborative letter exchange. Through Writing Partners, students learn that writing has the power to help them make connections across communities and connect with others within their community.
Unlike pen pals, Writing Partners incorporates academic and social learning goals, and intentionally helps to cultivate literacy skills. Both university and elementary school students are asked to think about more than just the basic letter format and to consider how to build relationships through writing, basic document design, and the nature of the audience. Writing Partners enhances creative and critical thinking skills and encourages a sense of authority in students as writers and as members of the community.
How & When to Apply:
- This program starts at the beginning of each semester at Sacramento State and the number of weeks for letter exchanges depends on the agreed upon number of letters to be exchanged.
- If you are interested in participating, please email Sayonita Ghosh Hajra, Faculty Associate (sayonita.ghoshhajra@csus.edu) and Noel Mora, Community Partnership Coordinator (noelmora@csus.edu) as far in advance as possible.
- Contact cec@csus.edu for additional questions.
Building Multilingual Relationships
Writing Partners offers the opportunity for Sac State and k12 students to build multilingual relationships by exchanging letters in different languages. This allows students to improve on multilingual literacy, while also allowing students who are more fluent in another language, like Spanish, to write confidently and comfortably.
To know more about the importance of language exchange and how Writing Partners has contributed read this article Writing With Joy: Building Multilingual Relationships Through Community-Engaged Language and Literacy Work.
Resources
For more information please contact: Noel Mora, Community Partnership Coordinator, noelmora@csus.edu
