#blog4nwp - Rhonda Brinyark

Rhonda Brinyark is a language arts teacher at Tuscaloosa County High School in Northport, Alabama.

I had been struggling for too long, trying to figure out a better way of helping my students improve their own writing, attending many workshops, none of which helped much. One day as I was passing out papers, a student called me over to ask me something about her paper. As I approached her, I saw it as she saw it. She'd made a lot of mistakes, and I had been good enough to help her see them. All of them. If I had been she, I wouldn't have known where to start fixing the problems, and I would likely have just given up. I was at my wit's end and needed help in order to better help her and others like her.

It was about this time that I happened upon a flyer for the Longleaf Writing Project. There I found the answers I'd been looking for and that my students needed me to have. I feel so much more confident in helping them to be the best writers they can be. I've even managed to get two teachers I work with to attend subsequent sessions of Longleaf. If we lose this site, none of my other colleagues will be able to gain what I have gained from this experience. Please help us help more students and their teachers.