Writing Conferences

1. Writing Conferences Emily Love

2. Teacher’s Role in the Conference Resource Coach Sounding board

3. Classroom Facilitation Move all over the room Be in a position to see the whole class Get on the students’ level Establish a rule that students do not interrupt writing conferences unless absolutely necessary Go to students who ask for help Choose to conference with students who do not ask for help Ask several students to share samples of their work at the end of the class

4. Conference Materials Carry a stool with you as you move from student to student. Carry a clipboard that contains a class list where you can check off which students you worked with so that you can move on to new students the next day. This can also be used to keep notes about each student’s work, progress, and goals. Carry Post-it notes, so that you can jot down any significant ideas or questions that you can leave with the writer to help them as they continue work on their draft.

5. How To Begin a Conference Instruct students to write a question on the top of their draft to ask during their writing conference. The more specific the question, the better the conference. Let the student talk first—it is their responsibility to know what their writing needs. Repeat their own ideas back to them to give them confidence and to make sure you understand their question.

6. Questions to Ask What’s the most important thing you are trying to say? What’s your favorite part? Why are you writing about this? I don’t understand. Could you tell me about it? How do you want the reader to think or feel about this? What will you do next?

7. Grammar Explain the importance of following conventions. Readers do not read writing—even creative writing—that ignores grammar conventions. Write as correctly as possible from the beginning. Mention any grammatical errors that you catch in a writing conference. This will have a better impact on the writer, as they will be more likely to incorporate this grammar convention throughout the rest of the piece. Refer back to the mentor/study text when a question of technique arises. Set aside time to go back over a draft that is complete as far as content to focus solely on the conventions present in the piece.

8. List concrete images, ideas, objects, etc. Go back to the mentor text and see how they did it Connect to another writer in the class working on a similar theme/experience Look back through writer’s notebook Include some dialogue Brainstorming Ideas

9. Mentor/Study Texts A roadmap for when you can’t be there to guide

10. Mentor/Study Text Idea Texts: text presents a unique idea or topic that can inspire students to come up with their own original ideas Structure Texts: text presents an organizational technique that can inspire students in their writing organizational patterns Craft Texts: texts presents stylistic techniques that provide students with ideas to aid them in the revision of their pieces

11. “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan ThomasFocus: Description “Patient, cold and callous, our hands wrapped in socks, we waited to snowball the cats. Sleek and long as jaguars and horrible-whiskered, spitting and snarling, they would slink and sidle over the white back-garden walls, and the lynx-eyed hungers, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay, off Mumbles Road, would hurl our deadly snowballs at the green of their eyes. The wise cats never appeared.”

12. “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan ThomasFocus: Dialogue “’What would you do if you saw a hippo coming down our street?’ ‘I’d go like this, bang! I’d throw him over the railings and roll him down the hill and then I’d tickle him under the ear and he’d wag his tail.’ ‘What would you do if you saw two hippos?’”

13. Writing Within a Specific Framework When a writer is struggling with the specific framework or formatting of a piece, allow them to make adjustments in order to write what really matters to them. Encourage students to take risks with their writing, so as to avoid boring and meaningless work. Help them to see writing as a tool, not a punishment.

14. Students need celebrating for their efforts. Compliment specific questions on drafts. Trust the writer and let them determine the ultimate theme of the piece. CELEBRATE!

15. Ending a Conference “Does that make sense?”

16. Student Conferences • What are they? • One writer shares their completed work with the class, followed by fellow classmates providing feedback. • Why have them? • This gives the writers a place to share their work, thereby creating a writing community. Students receive genuine praise from their peers, along with helpful suggestions for their revision process. Listeners often receive inspiration when hearing the various works of their fellow writers. • How they work? • Students either read their piece aloud or ask a friend to read it aloud for them, as the other classmates read along silently. Then, the audience of students can make comments on content, craft choices, or potential areas of reader confusion.