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How Does CWP Benefit Students?
I'm an advocate of community service writing because
- it gives students a chance to practice writing in genres other than the school essay,
- it demonstrates how documents differ depending on their audience and purpose,
- it gets students thinking of themselves as real writers,
- it gets students engaged in the community,
- it advances the work of commendable community organizations, and
- it promotes students' personal growth, especially their confidence and their sense of agency.
--Nora Bacon, Writing Instructor, University of Nebraska, Omaha, and former director of Stanford's Community Writing Project |
Students involved in the Community Writing Project have a unique opportunity to develop broad-based, flexible skills in research methods, rhetorical analysis, and rhetorical practice while simultaneously performing public service. Unlike most conventional academic assignments, a CWP article, web site, speech, documentary film, or other practical document or performance informs and persuades an audience beyond the classroom, with the potential for greater public impact. Community Writing projects are, in these respects as well as in their collaborative nature, much like the practical documents and presentations that most students will undertake in the world of work after they graduate, requiring the kind of audience awareness and flexibility that adult writers need.
CWP assignments may also introduce a first- or second-year student to the world of public service. Students report that their projects foster a can-do attitude. They see community non-profit and governmental agencies, hence social and political issues and the rhetoric surrounding them, from the inside out. They begin to understand the impact one committed person can have. And they make a real contribution to their communities in their roles as Community Writing interns. The practical nature of CWP assignments and their capacity to promote social change motivate students’ learning in a powerful way, enlivening and enriching how students approach their academic work.
How might Community Writing benefit you?
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