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Princeton NJ Back to School Announcements

Writing Workshops Planned For Spring

Richard Trenner, a Princeton-based writer, editor, and communication skills coach who has taught more than 1,500 people how to write successfully, will lead three new interactive writing workshops this spring: “Write Smart: Writing for High School Students,” “Write Apps: Writing for Students Applying to College,” and “Write Well: Writing for Adults with English as a Second Language.”

“Having taught writing in universities, schools, and businesses as well as having coached many writers,” Trenner said recently, “I’ve discovered a lot about how people learn—and don’t learn—to write. For example, almost all teachers write comments on their students’ work, but unless a teacher writes extremely clear, detailed, and substantive comments, I doubt that most students really read or get much from such feedback. Teachers need to sit down with each of their students to read and discuss, logically and sensitively, what he or she has written. Does that take time? Absolutely. Achieving high quality always takes time.”

Here’s another lesson that Trenner shared: “Teaching the so-called ‘rules of writing’ usually takes the joy out of writing, but it rarely takes the mystery out of writing.” He added: “To help students truly understand and apply the patterns and strategies of good writing, teachers need to use lively discussions, smart examples, and precise feedback. They can’t just present lists of ‘do’s and don’ts.”

While the new workshops will differ in terms of writing types and participant groups, they will share basic objectives and methods. For example, all three will focus on both “process”—planning, drafting, and revising without undue struggle or waste of time—and “product”—creating work that conveys important ideas interestingly and well.

In addition, they will be limited to no more than 12 participants and meet in the Princeton area for two hours a week starting in April, for a total of 16 hours. Most important, the workshops will ask every student to write each week. The workshops will be sponsored by Advanced Communication Training (ACT), the Princeton-based consulting group that Trenner founded and still leads.

Richard Trenner, the workshop leader, is a teacher, writer, editor, and consultant. After earning degrees in English from Princeton and Rutgers, he was for nine years a Lecturer in Public and International Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, where he conducted the Writing Center. He has also taught writing and consulted on communication processes at several Fortune 100 companies in the US, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

His work as a writer is three-fold: criticism, journalism, and writing about writing. In the last area, Trenner has written one book, The Bell Labs Writer, and co-written two others. He has contributed frequently to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other periodicals. He has edited more than 25 published books.

To learn more about these or other InterACTive Writing Workshops or InterACTive Coaching Services from ACT, email richardtrenner@comcast.net or call 908-420-1070.