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Creative Writing Mentor with Secondary Schools

Fighting Words

About Fighting Words

Co-founded by Roddy Doyle, Fighting Words is the creative writing organisation for children and young people, with locations all around Ireland. All our programmes are free of charge and run by teams of volunteer writing mentors. Join our team to help children to explore their imaginations and tell their stories!

What's Involved

At Fighting Words, our team of writing mentors assist secondary school students at our fun and engaging creative writing workshops. Students range in age from 13 to 17 years and spend time writing as a group and individually.

The main task is to provide encouragement and positive feedback and facilitate the creativity of the students. Schools can choose between fiction writing, playwriting or songwriting at time of booking – if you enjoy any of these formats, you are very welcome! You don’t need to be an expert in any of them. We are looking for:

  • Anyone who enjoys working with young people - experience in creative writing is not necessary!

  • Good listeners who want to help teenagers tell their own stories in their own words and build their self-confidence through the creative practice of writing.

  • Enthusiasm and motivation to encourage young people to work creatively is the only requirement, no previous qualification required.

    Our Secondary School workshops are in two halves:
      1. Group work
    • Working together with the help of the Fighting Words team, the class begins an original story, which they will see being projected up onto a big screen as they write.
    • The students decide on the characters and plot and go through the story together sentence by sentence, editing as they go.

      2. Individual writing time
    • In the second half, everyone has the same role - helping the participants with their individual stories by offering encouragement and positive feedback in a relaxed and creative environment.

    • During this time the mentors can support the young people to write creatively through any medium - Poetry, song, haiku to name a few!

      Time Commitment & Location:
      The time commitment for a workshop is two and a half hours: 1pm to 2.30pm or 9.30am to 12pm. We ask our new mentors to commit to one workshop per month for three months.

      Benefits to the Students:
      Working with young people is a really rewarding experience, they are regularly taken aback by their ability to create a story! They also appreciate the support from our mentors. This is a space where they can express themselves freely and take time to reflect on their role as a young person within the world.

      Click here to listen to one of our current volunteers and their experience of helping at Fighting Words .

      For further information on the role please click on our website

      What's required for this position

    • We are looking for people who want to work with young people to help them tell their own stories in their own way.
    • The emphasis is always on ideas and creativity, never on spelling or grammar.
    • If you want to help build self esteem in a creative environment, you have the skills required for this role.

      • Arts/ Music/ Drama
      • Education/ Training
      • Multi-lingual/ Multi-culturalism
      • Youth/ Childcare

      Level of English required for this role:
      Intermediate English

      Times and commitment required for this role

      MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
      Morning✓
      Afternoon✓✓
      Evening

      Minimum time commitment: 3 months

      Hours required: 3hrs Monthly

      Other Details

      Location of volunteering opportunity:
      Fighting Words, Behan Square, 12-16 Russell Street, Dublin 1 D01 WD53

      Also available in these counties
      Dublin

      Screening details for this role:

      • Garda Vetting
      • Informal Interviews
      • References
      • Application Form
      • Identification Check (photo ID etc…)

      Volunteers will be provided with the following supports:

      • Support/ advice/ recognition
      • Supervision
      • Initial induction and training
      • Insurance cover

      Volunteers with the following challenges will be supported in this role

      • Physical Disability
      • Sensory Disability
      • Mental Health Difficulties

      Age restrictions:
      Over 18

      Is this opportunity suitable for groups/teams of volunteers?
      Yes

      Benefits you will receive as a volunteer

      Volunteering with Fighting Words provides the opportunity to meet new people, to experience an informal education environment, provides creative inspiration and is a lot of fun!

      Getting there

      Bus routes along Lower Drumcondra Road (11, 16, 41), 123 to Summerhill or any bus route to Mountjoy Square. Train to Drumcondra or Connolly. Nearest LUAS stop is Parnell.

    • Apply Now Click the apply now button to register your interest in this opportunity.
    • This opportunity is posted by:
    • Volunteer Centre: Dublin City
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