Make Space for Conferring: Why Having a Plan Matters (and How to Make It Happen)

A Backstory

Since late in the summer, I’ve been collaborating with several teams in my district to engage in the heavy lift of unpacking writing units, aligning them with standards and priorities, and refining assessment and feedback practices. As we’ve taken a deep dive into this work together, it has become evident that conferring doesn’t ever just happen, especially in a world of limited time and mandated programs. Rather, conferring must be planned, anticipated, and prioritized.

Why Conferring Matters

The heart of conferring is feedback. Writers need to feel seen, understood, and motivated to push themselves to try something new or improve their work. In the words of writing expert Carl Anderson, “Writing conferences are still at the heart of teaching writing. That’s because these 1:1 interactions with children give you the opportunity to provide the individualized support students need from you to grow as writers” (Heinemann, 2020). 

Zoom In

My work with teachers, grounded in some of the rich resources from Kate Roberts’ newly released text, Unboxing the Curriculum (2026), began with defining the skills and habits underlying the writing unit we were about to launch. As a team, we needed a clear, shared vision of the unit and the work our students were about to engage in over several weeks of learning. 

Once we all agreed upon the learning targets in the unit, we spent time creating and revising a map of the unit. The result of this work was a shared calendar of both the lessons and the writing work students would be engaging in across the unit.

This work laid the foundation for our actual focus: when and how to fit in conferring. To do this, we established a predictable structure to use now and replicate in future units:

1. Mark Up the Map. Each teacher took three highlighters (pink, yellow, green) and coded each day of the unit. Pink signified lengthier foundational lessons that were heavy in modeling and light in independent student writing or celebratory days at the end of a unit. Yellow marked balanced days with important lessons that also left a short amount of time for students to independently apply their learning. Green indicated days that were primarily reserved for independent writing and application of learning.
2. Give Yourself Permission. Teaching is full of “I should be” moments, times when we can drive ourselves crazy feeling obligated to cram in every practice that we know will benefit our students. Unfortunately, time doesn’t allow us to do all the things we want to do every single day. When mapping out conferring, give yourself permission to not try to cram in conferences on the heavy lesson days. Committing to conferring on the “green” days will allow you to feel empowered, prepared, and keep the momentum going. Yellow days can be flexible days for small groups, follow-up conferences, or short check-ins.
3. Anticipate. When you begin a unit with a clear vision of the work and learning you want students to do, anticipating where students will excel and struggle is a critical part of the work. In our work, we framed this using two questions: What do you expect students to already be able to do? (This became opportunities for compliment conferences!) Where do you anticipate students might need support to reach their goals? 
4. Prepare. Design a toolkit with ready-to-go resources to use on conferring days. Include mentor texts, sticky notes, checklists, exemplars, charts, and any other tools that will allow you to efficiently and effectively talk to kids about their writing and nudge them forward. Include tools for teachers, too: a clear organization system and a way to document conversations for future reference.

One Thing To Remember

Just as we don’t expect students to show mastery after one or two attempts at a skill, we also need to give ourselves time and grace. As with any skill, writing conferences become stronger and more impactful the more we practice them. By investing time, especially with a team of teachers, at the beginning of a unit to intentionally fit in conferences, we shift our mindset from “I might be able to…” to “I will.”

Go Deeper

The Conferring Notes System That Finally Works For Me: Google Forms by Leah Thomas, 2025 

Understanding Conference Roles for Effective Student-Teacher Collaboration by Stacey Shubitz, 2023