Chapter 3: Cyborg Writers and Teachers

  • Think sustainably. Keeping costs down, by embracing freeware and working with community sponsors and partners, automatically makes your program more likely to be repeated. Another vital step is to identify other volunteers that may continue your outreach work if you must leave it (like Almjeld did for her career move) or who might be inspired to take up their own community engagement work based on behind-the-scenes work with your project.
  • Adjust your pedagogy. Working with different student populations -- whether middle-school girls, seniors at a local senior center, or working professionals -- requires new pedagogical approaches. Talking with your community partners about best practices for particular populations is a good place to start.
    ​
  • Schedule smartly. Breaking down your days into hour-by-hour plans is crucial to the success of a writing camp, particularly for young writers. Breaking down the project also makes it easier to involve more volunteers by giving folks the chance to help for a few hours or a few events rather than committing to a week-long camp. The Girlhood Remixed 2013 and GRTC 2015 wikis (again, you must log in to view) show examples of half-hour and hour block schedules.
  • Expect the unexpected. You can plan endlessly and there still will always be unexpected things that happen -- computers crash, someone loses a backpack, someone doesn’t show up, nightmares keep a room of participants up all night, and so on. Adapting a “roll with it” philosophy will ease stress for you, your volunteers, and the writers at your camp.
  • Encourage active participation. You'll need to provide some explanation and guidance for how to complete activities, especially when asking participants to use new technologies. However, don't hold onto the reigns too tightly. Give participants plenty of space and time to play and experiment on their own -- or to help one another troubleshoot and solve problems. Sometimes the best learning happens when people have agency to try things on their own.
  • Remember: all work and no play makes writing camps dull. While writing activities will no doubt occupy the bulk of time at your writing camp, other small activities are necessary to promote community building, relieve stress, and allow resistant writers to associate composition with fun. We incorporated a variety of activities, such as arts and crafts, 'zine creation, movie nights, deep breathing and thankfulness exercises, dance parties, and outdoor games, that might be adapted for other writing programs. Such activities will also provide much-needed breaks for you and your volunteers administering curriculum.