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ASSIGNMENT FIVE: WRITTEN REFLECTION-Section Three- The Essential Writing Day Chapters 7-10
Chapter 7: Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills
• How might we integrate skill work into student writing rather than teaching it in isolation?
• Daily Oral Language exercises – THEY DON’T WORK!!!
• The importance of focusing on meaning and quality first
• All writing needs both a PURPOSE and an AUDIENCE
• How thinking aloud can make your teaching more explicit
• Teaching WRITING – not just the language of writing (process, process, process)
• What about writing standards? In your District and State?
• Key writing minilessons
• Revision – how to get students to care about it
• Letting kids in on the secret that – Yes! – Conventions do matter!
• How can we effectively use word walls?
In
Chapter 7, suitably titled “Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills,”
Regie gets to the heart of what so many teachers struggle with: “Fitting
it all in!!!” Many of the elementary teachers that we work with are
beginning to feel as though their personal motto is: “Jack of all
trades; master of none.” We just don’t have the time to teach well what
has to be taught. The only answer to this problem is to modify our
instruction so it agrees with Regie’s stance that isolated skill work
(such as Friday spelling tests, DOL, grammar worksheets…) will not help
our students grow into writers (or readers.) On page 144, Regie shares
four components for an integrated Writing Workshop:
1. Identify writing genres that would interest students (and meet district requirements)
2. Decide who the audience would be for each piece of writing.*
3. Model your own writing process and show students how you struggle.
4. Have students share writing regularly (for both celebration and great teaching moments.)
*This
created the biggest change in my own class’s writing - once my students
began to write with an audience in mind, the quality of writing shot
right up!
Regie
also gets to the heart of what writing with “voice” really is and
addresses how to teach children to write with an honest voice in their
own writing. She describes voice as “the writer’s unique personality on
paper, his own melody in words, her ‘mark’ as an individual. To write
with voice, the writer has to be interested in the writing.” We think
that many teachers and students are unclear as to how to add true voice
to their writing. Regie suggests, “Voice is in the details – but details
that show the real person and story behind the words, not just details
for the sake of adding more words…”
Integrating
those isolated editing skills such as grammar, punctuation, and
spelling into our writing will increase the efficiency of our
instruction. Bottom line – if the students care about their writing, are
writing for a specific audience, and understand that “the importance of
editing (and spelling conventionally) is to make their message clear
and easy to read for their audience – or reader, they take this job
seriously and work hard at making their writing clear.”
Chapter 8: Organize for Daily Writing
• What is our definition of Writing Workshop? What does Regie say?
• How can we have student choice within a structure?
• The importance of writing talk (teachers and students)
• The ultimate nightmare for all of us…scheduling…finding the time to write everyday
• The importance of routines, organization and modeling expected behavior
• Genre study – why it’s important to have both school-wide and district-wide conversations
• The possibilities within genres
Figuring
out a way to “fit it all in” is usually one of the most frustrating
things many of us face. It starts at the beginning of the year as we
first plan our daily schedule and continues throughout the remainder of
the year. Considering how you will create your schedule to include a
solid chunk of time for both reading and writing will probably be the
most stressful piece to the start of your year.
Create
a Comprehensive Literacy Framework: Play with your time and consider
what changes you might make in your daily literacy framework for next
year. Take a look at the samples that Regie provides on pages 185-187
for some possibilities. You do not have to post your schedule, but we
believe this is a worthwhile activity to complete on your own.
Chapter 9: Conference with Students
• What is the purpose of a Writing Conference?
• What are the different types of Writing Conferences?
• How can Share be used effectively?
• How to conduct a productive conference
• What about management and routines?
We
are so glad that this chapter talks about Share during Writer’s
Workshop. Too often this component is skipped by teachers who feel there
isn’t enough time in the day to “fit it all in.” However, it’s a vital
piece of the workshop and beneficial to all the students. Share sessions
are an additional time to teach. The teachers in my school are quite
comfortable using Share as their mini-lesson if the need arises. Given
the reality of daily schedules they were finding that they couldn’t have
a mini-lesson, confer and share everyday. They then realized that their
Shares sometimes were the minilessons. For more information about Share
we recommend looking at Leah Mermelstein’s Don’t Forget To Share: The
Crucial Last Step in the Writing Workshop. In this slim book, Leah
explains in detail four types of Share: Content Share, Craft Share,
Process Share and Progress Share.
The
“Tips for Successful Whole-Class Shares and Conferences” on page 215
are excellent ones to keep in mind. The bottom line for Conferences and
Shares is that students should feel successful and want to continue to
write. Make sure what you say to the child encourages them to keep on
writing. “The conference is secondary; the student as writer and
confident learner is primary.”
Chapter 10: Make Assessment Count
• Understanding how rubrics work
• What about Test Prep? THE BEST TEST PREP IS EXCELLENT TEACHING!
• How can we collect reliable data on students’ writing throughout the day?
• Guidelines for grading and providing evidence for parents, administrators and the public
“There
is lots of writing assessment going on these days, but little of it
actually improves the quality of students’ writing.” As Regie continues
she points out that this ‘assessment’ “is seldom used to improve daily
instruction.” This chapter is about becoming more knowledgeable about
assessments. Regie notes, that unless teachers know how to teach writing
well, it can be a waste of time to examine students’ writing and place
students on a writing continuum. She encourages you, as a staff to
“write together, study together, converse together, gather school-wide
data, analyze these data and set goals for improving writing
instruction. There is no shortcut to helping students become effective
writers and there is no program you can buy that will do it for you.”
Remember
to use rubrics judiciously and not overdo it. They should be “used as
an evaluation tool, not as the driving instructional force.” “Use
professional common sense. It is not advisable to apply rubrics to ALL
writing nor to score ALL writing. Just as our students need lots of
practice reading many texts without the expectation that they will be
assessed on everything they read, they need lots of practice writing
without being assessed on everything they write.” (Page 243)
Have
your students do a lot of writing! “Extensive writing across the
curriculum as part of an excellent writing program is the best
preparation for doing well on (standardized) tests. Readers have to read
avidly to become readers and the same holds true for writers. Kids who
write a lot develop higher-order thinking and understanding that
translates to higher achievement on all types of tests.” Be sure to
check out “Try It Apply It” on page 246 and throughout the chapter for
ideas to incorporate into your program.
As
Regie points out in this chapter, “The joy has gone out of writing.” We
need to “concentrate on developing kids as learners rather than kids as
test takers.”
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CHAPTER 7: Routman using a poignant word picture, the puzzle and the pieces, when it comes to starting with meaning and keeping it whole, this is well-stated and an example I will be using in the future. The crux of this chapter is the transfer of knowledge not teaching writing and its pieces in isolation! Another key part of this chapter that resonated with me was the ideas on how to get students to care about their writing and finally, where has the joy of writing gone? As the chapter continues, the author gave us the opportunity to ponder word walls. I must confess I LOVE word walls! I have used them extensively in the past. I wholeheartedly believe a word wall must be authentic and organic in nature, not a product contrived from a commercial source. Here again this lays the foundation of the transfer of knowledge, if the word wall is created out of that particular classrooms need, it shows respect for the learners in that community. An authentic word wall meets students where there are in their learning. This chapter concludes with “proven strategies (pages 169-172), a tremendous go-to-resource.
ReplyDeleteCHAPTER 8: I found myself agreeing completely with many ideas in this chapter and wondering out loud, “What?” on others. In the area of agreement: work on writing and word work DAILY, encourage experimentation and be flexible, maybe even break a few writing rules. Daily work helps students hone their writing skills and in turn their reading skills…again, transfer of knowledge. One of the ideas from Routman that I cannot agree upon is from page 190; the thought that students keep track of mini lessons. “What?” This appears to me to stop the creative and the love of writing. This exercise puts writing in the category of a heinously boring exercise and for what purpose? Any thoughts here? Creating a Literary Framework: A challenge to be sure! Flexibility is an elusive beast in the classroom. Often, we are constrained by grade level and school time management control. However, the great view I came away with from this exercise was the addition of details that assists me with the bigger idea of transfer of knowledge through the curriculum.
CHAPTER 9: Conferences: I have a love/hate relationship with them. My brief thoughts: the conference needs to, well… brief, beneficial, organic in nature and productive. The idea of peer conferences: NOT beneficial, especially in first through third grades, simply because of the language used by peers. I strong believe if using peer conferences in first through third grades, the conference should be facilitated by an adult. Again, my opinion stems from the language used by peers. The use of language is critical. What does it mean when a peer says, “I liked it”; “It’s beautiful” or the dreaded “Good Job”? This type of language is not productive. Routman quickly touches on this topic on page 224.
CHAPTER 10: Assessments… as the pendulum swings. While the author’s opinion make for interesting fodder in regards to standardized writing tests, it is currently how most teaching is measured and a fact of life in teaching until the pendulum swings again. A final thought on this week’s reading and this chapter (page 248) and test prep: Why wait until two weeks before the state testing to teach the language and format? Integrate it throughout the year and write for excellence all the time!
I am loving the ideas that I am getting out of this book! It makes me feel excited to be teaching and I can't wait until I have a classroom of my own to apply all of these ideas. .
ReplyDeleteIt’s very clear throughout this book that writers should understand their purpose for writing, and be writing for a real audience. Since we have such a limited writing time, I admit I have been having students write to meet the criteria given to me for their IEPs, and have been teaching in isolation. The students are not enjoying it and aren’t transferring skills. However, the other day we started a story modeled after a Goosebumps book that was read aloud, and the students eyes lit up. They had so many ideas, and their writing is much more interesting. “Springboarding” off of fictional books is really fun and inspires my struggling writers to write. We are still working on these pieces, and will be sharing them during our morning meeting in the next week. I liked the idea of making a chart (pg. 160) for things to look for when editing. I think I will do this so that the students take some ownership over what they are looking for to perfect their pieces before we share them.
Another clear idea from this book is students should write, write, write as much as possible. I’ve mentioned this before, and it peeves me beyond belief, that our schedule is set up to have writing twice a week on Mondays and Tuesdays for an average of a half hour a day. So, we have 6 days before they come back to whatever they were working on the previous Tuesday. Their “flow” is interrupted and it’s hard for them to “get back into the groove.” I cannot believe our schedule is like this, but it isn’t my classroom and I don’t want to step on toes. I will not have it this way in my future classroom though. And I often sneak writing in during my reading period on the other days.
“Limit the use of graphic organizers,” (pg 180). As I mentioned in my previous assignment, I would love to use them less, but they are a requirement to meet the IEP goals so I have to include them. Again, I hated them, and didn’t find them useful when I was a beginning writer, so most of the time I am conferencing with my students and writing them for them as dictated. I want that process to be fast, so they don’t get exhausted before they even begin. I think lists and outlines are much more useful.
I really liked the idea of having a writing record sheet (pg.191). I’ve done something like this for books students have read, but never for pieces of writing. I think this would help my students to clearly identify an audience, and have something to keep them accountable for what they are working on. Great idea!
I didn’t realize conferences could take so many different forms. I always thought conferencing meant having a one-on-one discussion with a student about their writing. I don’t however see my students making the best use of their time doing peer conferences. They are very easily distracted, and have a really difficult time staying on task on their own, let alone working independently with another student while I do a one-on-one conference. The “Teacher Talk” ideas are very helpful though.
In chapter 10 Regie suggests saving students work so you can see high quality examples that meet criteria for the highest score on a rubric. Would it also be appropriate to save some low scoring and mid-scoring pieces? I think it’s handy to be able to analyze what makes good writing, and to be able to compare high and low papers and what the difference is. They could even be teacher created I suppose so that students low scoring papers are not on display for others even if their name is not connected. Also, I agree with Penni’s “final note” that having a writing prompt once every six or seven weeks and not talking about test language until days before the test doesn’t seem like enough test prep. It would seem like it would be a good idea to talk about the language throughout the year. Not necessarily referring to the test, but just woven into teaching.
Assignment 5
ReplyDeleteCh. 7 I really relate to the “Whole to Part to Whole” theory. I like the students to have a big picture of what and why they are doing lessons. They really seem to respond when they know why we are doing particular mini-lessons. When I am reading aloud I often stop and point out parts out to our class when there is particular great writing or vivid language. I find this a fantastic way to show my class the “whole” and the “why.” If they can hear great writing and see great writing in their heads as it is read they can understand why they would want to write better.
The challenge that I face is helping the students find their authentic voice. I often struggle making writing as real as possible for 6th graders. Routman says that “Voiceless writing is like soup with no seasoning.” I know that my students see this and can point out however they tend to have a hard time really caring about what they are writing. They have a hard time even caring about their audience. I like all the examples of different forms of writing the Routman gives on pg.169-172. With such a comprehensive list I am sure to hit on something that each student can feel a connection to and work to find their voice.
Ch.8 I was surprised to be reminded by Routman in this chapter that those that find time every day to write come up with 2x the amount of writing and ideas for writing than those that only write when they feel like it. This seems simple yet it can be amazingly hard to do in practice. Easily, in our 50 min. classes, we can spend time doing/teaching anything but writing daily.
I also really relate to building a climate of trust in our classroom, not only for writing but for all assignments. The students need to know that they are safe to take chances and to learn. This is especially easy to do with writing it seems because I so often remind students that writing is art and as art it can be loves by some while others might not think it is their cup of tea. It is completely in the eye of the beholder and if you are satisfied that you have done all you could to convey your voice to your reader (through knowing your audience, revising, using good spelling and conventions) than you have to trust in our audience. We are all in this together and we are all learning together.
Ch.9 Conferencing with students is something that I feel is amazingly important but that I do not get enough time to do. We often do whole class shares where students will hear their classmates writing and are able to comment on it, and there is true value it that, however my one-on-one time is very limited with students and I need to work on that. Routman’s “Roving Conferences” are something that I do now and that I feel that I could continue and perfect with her idea of class list notes. I love the idea of having one (or two) sheets that have a short note about where each of my students is in their writing!
Ch.10 Assessments! What can I say? I tell my students that their fictional writing is art and then I turn around and start assessing them on it! I love that Routman reiterates over and over to use rubrics judiciously, yet she understands that we live in a world that places value on assessment; therefore we need to learn what they want and how to do it. As a teacher it is necessary to let the students in on the mystery of assessment while also trying to help them gain a love of writing.
Chapter 7 I smiled to myself as I read Regie's description of how we complicate our teaching by breaking things up into bits and pieces as this is sadly so, so true. It seems to me that the key words that keep echoing a refrain through out this book are "purpose" and "authentic." This is true for both the lessons we choose to teach and the writing we ask our students to do. When teaching a mini lesson it is essential to have a specific purpose for the skill that you choose to focus on for that day (beyond the fact that it is listed on the Common Core.) It needs to be presented as a skill that writers used and modeled in an authentic context. When it is time for the kids to write they need to be writing for a reason beyond practicing that specific skill.
ReplyDeleteChapter 8 This Chapter illustrated how it is possible to organize a schedule in which students have many, many opportunities to write on a daily basis. I think one of the keys to this is to establish daily routines of writing. Making sure that students know the expectations for writing time, where the supplies are etc. Something that I have found helpful in my classroom is "the silent star" which I put up on the board for the first 5 or so minutes of a writing session. During this time no one (not even the teacher) can speak at all. This gives the kids time to settle in to their writing and fosters independence . It gives me a few minutes to observe the kids in action (sometimes its hard not to jump in and tell them what to do) Once I take down the silent star, they can whisper to each other if they need help with a word or an idea but often the silence continues for quite a while.
Chapter 9. I agree that conferencing with students is essential, I just wish it was as easy as it sounds. I have usually just done the one on one conferences and often get caught up in the "proof reading" rather than the actual discussion of writing goals. I appreciated Regie's "Teacher Talk" list on page 228 . I may even copy this into my lesson plan book so that I have a variety of ways to hold students accountable for doing editing and proofreading before they meet with me. I had not thought about considering student sharing time as a public conference. This is such a wonderfully efficient idea, celebrating student's work and conferencing simultaneously.
Chapter 10 Like so much of this book, I appreciate the realistic balanced approach that Regie takes toward Assessment. Assessment is something needs be done, but like everything else we do in teaching it needs to be authentic and have a purpose. The assessment we do needs to be beneficial to our teaching. Freewrites and occasional prompts can give a lot of useful information on what students can and cannot do.
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeletePenni,
Record keeping is often the most challenging piece for teachers in reading and writing. I’d have to say I agree with you…I don’t think that I’d be disciplined enough to have the students keep track of the minilessons. If another teacher wants to put their energy and time into this and it works for them, that’s great, but for me I likely wouldn’t do it. ☺
(The over-all message I take away from Regie and her books is to take what you like and make it work for you and your situation. I don’t think she’d have any problem with a teacher disagreeing or choosing not to do things exactly like her. We all have our own “teacher” voice and when we try too hard to make something fit that doesn’t work for us it doesn’t go well and the children can tell.)
I also agree with you regarding peer conferences in primary grades. I even struggled with them when I first started teaching with 4th graders. (Though I hope I’ve learned a little since then. ;)) I would say though primary teachers can support this process by teaching students how to be specific in their comments and how to draw evidence and examples from the writing/reading to help prove their point. This may be slow (even painful) but it can start to build the foundation for students to eventually be able to have peer conferences that are helpful and meaningful.
Hello Carol! So glad you are enjoying the readings. You will def. want to re-read this book again (and again) because each time you do you will come away with new ideas to implement. Good for you for squeezing in writing when you can. Reading and writing go together! Yep, lists and webs are what work best for me…outlines can be useful also but I remember not really understanding how to create an outline when I was in elem. school.
Absolutely it’s a great idea to share examples that just meet or do not meet the standard. I’d be very careful with this as I would find examples from other classes (with names ALWAYS removed,) other schools, other grades, or from online. I’d also make a point that it’s not to rip the person to shreds but to see an example that does not meet the basic requirement and discuss how it can be better. I’ve shared digital projects from a different school with students to show them how quickly slides run or how soft a students voice was or how quickly they spoke all make the message and creator’s meaning difficult to understand. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Seeing a completed project that they will be working on is a great use of time and helps the students see why it’s important to edit, or speak slowly and clearly or whatever skill you are working on. Also, it’s good to start a file and save examples to share with future classes if you know you will be doing the same topic or unit again.
Hi Tonya!
ReplyDeleteTeaching Voice is one of the most difficult things to do, I believe.
All resources, (time, money, support) are often in short demand. It is difficult to fit everything in. Have you collaborated with other subjects, like science or math where you could work together on a project? This would allow you to have students write across the curriculum and give them more time to write.
Hello Susan,
Absolutely! Assessments aren’t evil or bad, but they should be purposeful and help to drive our instruction. However, I do know that there are can be required assessments that come down from the district office that “have to be done” for one reason or other. It’s too bad about this—(perhaps it’s tied to grant funding or some other reason) but grade levels and buildings should share their feedback and be constructive about finding acceptable alternatives or more meaning full assessments to use instead.
The writing goals before and after a change in faculty’s writing beliefs on page 144 is a helpful reminder about the important role of content and purpose of writing in engaging students. Conventions are important too, but it is obvious that students need to be motivated and engaged in the writing process first.
ReplyDeleteThe writer emphasized teacher’s modeling through the book because students, especially at the elementary level look at their teachers as role models. They try to copy what teachers say and act unintentionally. Teacher’s revision process is definitely going to stack in student’s mind because she made it interesting. I personally like it a lot the revision process on page 157.
I also was impressed with the sample of the comprehensive literacy framework on page 185. It seems easy for teachers to work on editing their schedule to allow students to write and read more through the day. For example, writing story problems during math, science journals, and independent writing seems very practical ideas and worth trying. Besides, Students’ conferring and the list of notes teacher is taking are some points that allow teachers to change the daily schedule and to plan for the lessons according to students’ interest and motivation.
I laughed when I read that “The best test preparation is excellent teaching”. I wish if parents are aware of that. Every trimester exams I feel so overwhelmed with parents’ emails and notes making sure I am sending worksheets and pre-tests home for their children to practice before the test. I always try to inform them that their children are ready for the test, and it is just a regular practice, but they are not satisfied with my answer. I understand it is nice that they are following up with their children, but I also see the stressful time my students are going through during testing.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChapter 7:Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills This book has really made me look at writing in a new way. I really think that we need to focus on quality first. I want to reduce the amount of isolated exercises and worksheets. I want to get my students to write more often and with a purpose and audience. I have been teaching them to follow a formula and write to prompts way too much. I want to revisit my districts standards and create a new year long scope that covers the goals on pg. 144 and the Teaching Beyond the Standards on pages 150-151. I am going to use the minilessons from this chapter too. I have to admit – I hate word walls. They take up so much space and I never seem to use them beyond just sticking the words up as we use them. I like some of the ideas about using word walls in this chapter, now I just have to find the space to create one. I don’t think that I am so inspired my this chapter yet overwhelmed because there just isn’t enough time in my schedule to effectively teach writing the way I want to. I am hoping that next year I can do a better job ustizling the whole year.
ReplyDeleteChapter 8: Organize for Daily Writing-
The big ideas I’m taking from this chapter.
• Do more writing infront of students and more shared writing.
• Model and use different prewriting activities – pg.179
• I love the writing record pg 191
• Write more letters
• There are lots of great minilessons and topics in this chapter
Again I can’t wait to start next year, while I will try to incorporate some of these ideas this year. Next year I feel that I will be able to set up a better routine and rhythm for our writing time.
Chapter 9: Conference with Students. I have never had much luck with conferencing with students. I have always had to help student through the writing process, so I really like the idea of whole class conferencing – What a great idea! I think that the other students would also learn so much and also be able to give advice as well. I think this may be a way to make meeting with all students more feasible. I will use the productive conference list on page 223 and the response list on 227. I also like the conference forms.
Chapter 10: Make Assessments count.
I have been a state scorer for the writing assessment and I have taught and used kid friendly rubrics. I feel that this has influenced the way I have taught writing – Teaching to the test. Now because of budget cuts – the state writing test isn’t given in the fourth grade. This, I believe, has created a downfall in writing at our school. Writing by some gets the back burner.
We as a district still need to collect and score work samples. I keep prompted writing samples throughout the year and share them with parents at conference and explain the rubrics we use. I want to start letting the students select other pieces to put in their portfolio – something they are proud of, something that was hard, etc.
Again I'm feeling excited and overwhelmed at all the new ideas and systems I want to incorperate.
Assignment 6
ReplyDeleteWord walls have never been something I felt my students used. After reading though I have new ideas for how to incorporate them into my classroom. Rather than just posting the current chapter’s vocabulary, I want to post transitions, content words, days of the week, moths, homonyms and prefix/suffix words. Words they can use along with the Gift Of Words steno. I love the idea of Velcro to remove, group and rearrange words! I also believe teaching good writing techniques teaches beyond the standards and giving their writing a name after they write will eliminate their concerns as it will my own confusion. Writing about a topic that interests the student definitely gives the piece voice rather than writing to a generic prompt that they will have trouble relating to.
I sometimes worry that me, writing in front of my students may bore them but having them “help” me revise, add interesting info, question me about things that are unclear is good for the group. Reading their work helps them, me and other students find repetition, words out of order and the ability to question the writer in order to add any information that may be missing or could make the piece more interesting or just make sense. My students never want to revise and edit their work but it just may be they didn’t have enough written to do that. I think that I will have my students write about what they learned in math, write steps for problem solving, write about what they learn in the sections they read in social studies! We also need to incorporate letter writing maybe as an exit piece explaining their learning for the day.
Never being good at writing conferences, whole class conferencing sounds like something I will want to try. It will help me determine what mini-lessons I need to teach by the weaknesses in their writing. I do view it as an awesome behavior tool as well as keeping the whole class engaged. My class loves to read their writing out loud! A great teaching piece for students to hear others work and suggest revisions, rather than the common peer edit where most students will read a peer’s work and proclaim it “JUST FINE”!
Hello Madiha, Sarah and Robin!
ReplyDeleteMadiha, you are doing the right thing informing your parents that the trimester exams are just regular practice and that the students are ready for it. Perhaps you can write a letter next Fall to your new parents stating what you wrote.
That each trimester during exams you receive many emails and notes from parents who are worried about the tests. While you believe this to be wonderful that parents are engaged and interested in their children’s education this places unnecessary stress on the students. The exams are just another tool or format in the educational experience and should be considered regular practice where school and home can assess the information and best adjust instruction for the child to improve the student’s success.
Maybe this will help some parents understand what the purpose of the exams is.
Sarah, There is so much in this text! Don’t be overwhelmed, set realistic goals and plan to re-read the book again. Maybe you can this summer or even in the fall or winter. Each time you do you will be able to take away new ideas to implement. :D
Hi Robin,
I know… peer conferences didn’t really work for me when I first started teaching. The students always said, “It’s good,” despite lessons and sheets with specific things to comment on and look for. Too bad I didn’t have this book then. :D
Good luck with the whole class conference, I agree, your students will enjoy them.