ASSIGNMENT SEVEN: Student Writing Conference - Choose one or two children (classroom students, relatives, neighbors...) to conduct an informal conference with. You may choose to use one of Regie’s formats, your own or the one below, which I use in a conferring notebook. You need to find a system that will work for you. Example 1 (and below) is the format I use for each writing conference that I hold with students. Keep in mind that while you are conferring with students, the majority of other students should be writing!
(Note: If you aren’t currently teaching please find a school-age child to do a conference with. We believe you will find it is worth the effort.) Student Name: Date:
? (Question- Teacher asks)- “What are you
working on today in your writing?”
C (Compliment)- Compliment the student on one
strategy they are using well.
TP (Teaching Point)- What is one
strategy/point/goal you can teach this student to
move them forward?
FNT (For Next Time)- What needs to be a focus
during the next conference/what were set goals?
ASSIGNMENT SEVEN: After completing your one or two conferences, please reflect on how well they went and how they will impact your whole group, small group and independent instruction in your classroom. Post your reflective response to the blog.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Conferences is something I really need to work on. I find it difficult to sit down, one on one, with a group of first graders who cannot write for more than 5 minutes, if that. I feel that I do a very good job at praising students writings and finding a positive, even if there isn't one to be seen.
ReplyDeleteI think I will have my students have more ownership in the conference. We are normally conferencing over a specific writing project, going from a rough draft to final copy, etc. I want to try and have conferences in a free write sense where they tell me the topic and express their thoughts, then I can express a goal for them to keep in mind.
I usually correct the paper with them and then send them back to their seat without a thought of what they should work on for next time. I like setting a goal for them to try and reach.
I truly enjoyed sitting down with my students during these writing conferences. I am always amazed at what they can write and it was nice to sit one-on-one and listen to them read their pieces. Both of the conferences went fairly quickly and I feel like I gained enough information during that time to allow me to give my students a strategy that will help them move forward in their writing. The information I took from these conferences also gave me some ideas for minilessons for the whole class.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to figure out how best to implement writing conferences into my writing workshop. I like the idea and the information that I would be able to quickly get out of the roving conferences. I also liked the one-one-one conferences that I conducted, and am thinking about how I could plan those into my writing time as well.
We really see the power in conferring. The students love the one-on-one time and as you said Jennifer, the teacher is able to gather a lot of information in a quick and easy format.
ReplyDelete