A (New?) Conferring Thought

One of the teachers I’ve been working with this week is focusing on conferring. So I’ve been talking to writers, he’s been listening in, and then we reflect together about the conferences. This means conferring is even more on my mind than usual.

As we were reflecting, I realized how often I put myself in the shoes of the writer. In my early years of attempting to confer, I wasn’t always thinking about the writer. This wasn’t for lack of trying — I thought I was focusing on the writer, but hindsight is saying maybe I was focusing on the writing process instead. Sure I was teaching to to the writer, from the stance of something she can do now and again and again and again. I would consider what I would do or what I heard other writers doing, but I’m not sure how often I stopped and considered the work the student was doing and then put myself in her shoes. I’m not sure I stopped and thought, What would I be feeling right now? What would I need to do next as a writer in this situation?

I find myself asking these questions more and more. If I weren’t writing myself I wouldn’t be able to find the answers on the spot in a conference. Still, I think it goes beyond being a writer myself. It is about embracing the work students are doing, finding it worthy, and then empowering them to do it better. Even more, it’s about listening, I mean really listening, and identifying their most pressing need. Then talking through it as one writer to another.