Sunday, November 8, 2015

Assignment Seven: Student Writing Conference

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.

3 comments:

  1. It will take some time for me to become organized enough to manage conferences with the students. I gave 2 a try. I conferenced with 2 of my struggling readers because the need arose. They needed my support and I attempted the conference style suggested in the blog and used tips from Regie such as using post it notes. I met with the first student and asked him if he could read to me what he was working on. I complemented his effort at a good beginning and asked him what he wanted to do next in his writing. He told me some of the ideas he had for what to write next and I captured them on the post it for him for later. Then we talked about how it is important to leave spaces between his words, noting the times when he had done well and the area of improvement. I discussed why it is important to have the spaces and we ended with an agreement that when he continues to write he will try to leave spaces using a finger space if he needs to. He also had the words he told me for his continued writing. I feel like it went well. He seemed receptive to the things to work on, liked that I was complementing his writing and writing down his words for later. As my most struggling writer, I feel like I was able to help him get to a place where he could continue writing as he often gets stuck.
    I can see the value of such mini conferences. I think that it will help my whole class because they all want to share and get feedback on the writing, but I never felt like I had time. I have seen other teachers use a conference sign up. That way students request conferences when they feel ready, but I wonder about the wait time. If they put their name on the list, do they then feel aimless until their name is called and their turn is up? I think it will help me to give structure to the kind of feedback I give students. Also, meeting with each student for one-on-one conferences will give me a general feel of what students already know and what they need to work on. When I can informally assess them quickly and regularly I can find small groups that all need support in a certain area and do small group mini-lessons.
    My major concern is the initial organization. I have many students with behavioral struggles and it takes quite a while to establish a routine and clarify behavior expectations. It also seems to me that I need to set aside some time to put together some sort of organization system for my self so that I can record their conferences and see that I meet with students regularly and as often as I should. A strong writer may need less frequent meetings with me, but I need to be careful not to abandon them because a weaker writer needs more intervention.

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  2. Your smart to not lose site that your stronger writers also will need to meet with you, but not as much as your struggling students. Yes, schedule and record keeping are the two big areas with conferring that requires the most time. You may find it takes you a while to develop a system that works for you. And this is ok. Remember to write down only what you don't already know about the child. If little Betty always used vivid vocabulary you don't need to record this, you already know it. Focus on the areas (only 1-2 at a time) that will help your student move forward with their writing (and enjoy the experience.) So spacing between words was an excellent goal. Good luck! We find conferring to be a powerful and informative tool. Def. worth the effort of setting up.

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  3. Oh, I should re-read before hitting publish… You're --- You are, not Your. :D

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