20241010_ExLibris

EX L I BR I S I S A NEWSLETTER OF THE YEL LOW SPR I NGS L I BRARY ASSOC I AT ION RICHARD BULLOCK YSLA Secretary In 1957 the first experiment in paid “Contract Correcting” was begun in Newton, Massachusetts. The idea was that by enlisting people in the community to read high school students’ writing, the students could be assigned more writing while lightening the load of overburdened English teach- ers. By 1960, the idea — minus the compensation — had reached Yellow Springs. According to a history writ- ten by Jean Lightfoot Kappell, the program, called here the Lay Reader program, was developed and the Yellow Springs Readers Group formed in 1960, headed by Morton Rauh. English teachers Charlotte Gordon and Kay Corbin coordinated with the volunteer readers, who were left on their own to respond, evaluate, and correct students’ writing as they saw fit. The lay readers read an average of two themes by four students weekly. The program lasted more than to writers,” giving the program an elitist bent; and logistical problems developed, probably as commitment dropped for both students and lay readers. In 1989, though, one teacher renewed interest in the program, and a perception had devel- oped in the community that not enough writing was being done at the high school. As a parent and writing program director at Wright State, I also had a strong interest in student writing, so I helped revive and revise the program, which at its peak had 40 lay readers reading essays from grades 7-12. This time around, the readers were trained to respond to students’ writing in workshops and given a handbook to guide their responses and, hopefully, coordinate them with the teaching in the students’ classes. Students were asked to complete a cover sheet for each piece of writing that included a self-assessment and questions for the lay reader, and the writing went into a port- The Lay Reader Program in Yellow Springs INSIDE: • What We’re Reading; Top Ten lists. ......................2 • From the GCPL director; YSLA Spring Tea............3 • Free Words: Poetry about writing.....................3, 5 • Library News..........................................................4 • Book reviews..................................................4, 5, 6 • Become a member of YSLA..................................7 • YS Library programming highlights.......Back Page Volume 48, No. 2 Fall 2024 Continued on page 5 20 years, drawing on a broad base of community support, strong teacher support, and a clear college-preparatory focus in the high school. However, it fizzled and died in the mid-1980s for several reasons: participation became voluntary for students, so fewer and fewer submitted writ- ing, leading to “writers talking