First apologies + thank you. Apologies because I forgot to blog! As unreal as that seems, it is the truth. On Monday night I crashed before 9 (could it be because I had a total of 12 hours of sleep the previous week) and didn’t even think about the blog until about 7 minutes ago! I’m sorry. And a thank you because you’re back reading.
Today’s post is one I need. From time to time it is important to remember, question, synthesize, and record our thinking about our practices. Conferring is the heart of workshop, so it is worthy to consider. Following is a list of reminders I need to hear.
- Teach the writer. Teach the writer. Teach the writer.
- Listen and listen some more. Then respond. The best response is a question and then more listening.
- Find what the student is doing well and build on those strengths.
- Ask open-ended questions.
- Go to students. Sit next to them. If you don’t want to get down on the floor, then find a stool. Move from one side of the room to the other when conferring.
- A Mid-Workshop Share is always a good way to redirect students who have started chatting during work time.
- Grace is important. Writing is hard work and sometimes sitting next to someone is a tempting diversion.
- Take time to explicitly teach and then have students give it a try with your support. After they have the gist, move on — but check back later! This checking back is essential for holding students accountable in implementing the teaching point.
- Take notes. At the minimum, include the date, topic of the conversation, and the teaching point.
- Reflect on these notes. Ask what did I do well in this conference? How could I have improved this conference.
- The conference does not have to “match” the minilesson.
- Be on the look out for potential minilessons while conferring.
- Be personal. Smile, laugh, cry — respond as a human first and a writing teacher second.
Will you add to my list? I’d love to know your reminder when it comes to conferring.
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Thanks so much for this! I’m planning on sharing this with my student teacher so he can benefit from seeing major points of conferring!
I know it’s not about conferring, but having students teach their teaching point to other writers makes their teaching point cement so much more in their mind (in my opinion). I also love having students think they created it themselves and are in charge of helping other writers become better.
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thanks for the reminders. i’ve been so caught up in me lately and all that is going on with me that i have seriously been neglecting my students’ writing. we are doing poetry….one of my faves!….and i have not met with these kids like i should. i have been stressed out by them to be honest. but, i know some of that stress is forgetting that they have a life too that doesn’t always revolve around school. we did have a whole-class author’s chair one day as we were drafting. boy, were my eyes opened to the needs of my students, not as writers but has people. i’ve been blogging lots lately, keeping fresh on my own writing. i always love your posts!
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Don’t play fix it. Make sure you are teaching the writer not “correcting” a paper.
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Teach only one thing in a conference.
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I work with young writers, and one of the most important things I do is compliment the writer. I compliment them on their efforts before we continue with the conference. A compliment goes a long way to building confidence as a young writer.
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One more thought:
“Invite the class” into the conference (with the writer’s permission) by asking everyone to listen in as you confer. This is a good way to reinforce a mini lesson and can serve as a mid-workshop reminder.
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Look at it this way… You would not have written such a GREAT post about conferring if you hadn’t fallen asleep so early. I am printing this out and clipping it to my conferring clipboard. Thanks!
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Loosely quoting Don Murray, I’d like to say that the writer’s enthusiasm for whatever it is they’re writing should go up after meeting with you.
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