1. Noticing the growth in a young writer: I conferred with one of my students today who fought with me tooth-and-nail at the beginning of the school year when it came to elaborating. Today, he had six pages-worth (double-spaced) of writing for his literary essay draft! This makes me happy. 🙂 2. Having a student… Continue reading Writing Things That Make Me Happy
Category: conferring
Conferring
It's true what Lucy always said about speaking loud enough so other students hear you while you confer... they do learn by listening in! I've known this for awhile, but was reminded of it yesterday when I brought six of my students up to my classroom at lunchtime to further assist them with creating solid… Continue reading Conferring
Share this:
Share this:
becoming better.
Today in a workshop, Carl Anderson emphasized the point of being intentional about approaching our conferring from the point of strength of the student. Basically, we learn what they are doing and help them do it better. However, too often we find what they are not doing and then try to get them to do those… Continue reading becoming better.
Share this:
Share this:
Plan Boxes
I introduced the idea of Plan Boxes (see Lucy Calkins' Units of Study for grades 3-5 if you want more info on these amazing management tools!) to my class today. While some of them were familiar with the idea of creating a plan, I found myself implementing stricter guidelines with them this year than I… Continue reading Plan Boxes
Share this:
Share this:
Selecting a variety of notebook entries…
My fourth grade colleague and I have decided to share the photocopying responsibilities. Since my week is next week, I went to her today to find out if she'd be interested in having me photocopy some of my former students' notebook entries (I have permission, in writing, so long as their identity is protected.) so… Continue reading Selecting a variety of notebook entries…
Share this:
Share this:
Strategy Lesson and Conferring Coffee Table Area
Small Group Work Space or Coffee Clutch? Originally uploaded by teachergal When I moved from New York City to Rhode Island I brought some furniture with me that I knew I'd no longer use in my apartment. However, I thought it might be nice to put these items in my new classroom, which is exactly… Continue reading Strategy Lesson and Conferring Coffee Table Area
Share this:
Share this:
Keeping Track of Writing Conferences
I often feel like I'm conferring with the same kids over and over again in Writing Workshop. Hence, I've created a new tool, a KID TRACKER, to help me keep track of who I meet with in strategy lessons and for conferences. At the end of Writing Workshop, I intend on shifting the clothespins of… Continue reading Keeping Track of Writing Conferences
Share this:
Share this:
Operation Notebook
So here I am, on a mission, to find the perfect notebook to use as my MASTER NOTEBOOK (sounds kind of funny calling it that) for my conferences. I think I found it at Borders this morning. It's from Paperchase and looks like this: Here's what I like about it: It's contains lined and blank… Continue reading Operation Notebook
Share this:
Share this:
My Writing Teacher Goals
Angela Redden got me thinking about all of my goals for the upcoming school year. I thought this would be a brilliant place for me to articulate my writerly goals, so here goes. 1. To streamline my conference record-keeping for Writing Workshop. (My Reading Conference notes have always been great, but for some reason I… Continue reading My Writing Teacher Goals
Share this:
Share this:
One notebook or many?
Last week I blogged about a Recipe for Conferring Success. I've done some more thinking about it in recent days and am left pondering the following questions for myself as a teacher of writing: 1. One notebook or many? a. How many notebooks should teachers of writing keep to use in conferences and strategy lessons… Continue reading One notebook or many?
Share this:
Share this:
Recipe for Conferring Success
I baked a delicious chocolate peanut butter chip quick bread this past weekend. It came from a mix. (See how honest I am!) However, it required a few ingredients, such as eggs, water, and cocoa powder, to be added. I put all of those items into the Kitchen Aid Mixer and poof! Two minutes later… Continue reading Recipe for Conferring Success
