This article "Conferring in the Writing Workshop" is all about conferencing with students about their writing. Conferencing is important to talk with the students about their writing problems as well as their good techniques as a writer. A lot of teachers think that writing can only be done in one way- assigning a task and then having the students write about it. But in the article, there were a lot of examples of students who have no motivation until they are able to talk about their ideas or share them with the class. It also helps when talking with a child to zero in on one problem and if their body language is telling you they are not into it, switch topics.
My teacher uses conferencing in the classroom, so I can see how it fits in exactly. We normally do it during the independent writing workshop. This might be during the idea notebook time or during the time where they work on their personal narratives. I think that what I need to work on as a professional is working with students on the level that they individually will understand. One student might need to have their problems pointed out to them and they will figure out how to work on it, but other students might need the problem to pointed out and dissected and explained to them what they need to do to change it.
I really like conferencing- I think it's helpful to see where the students think they stand personally. It is a way to learn something about students that they can share with you, something you might not have noticed just while looking at their work. I think that writing is something that really needs to be developed from the students own voice and the only way they are going to learn their own voice is through writing a variety of ways. Students also might not be strong spellers or use grammar the right way but have very good story lines, so conferencing might be able to more clearly illustrate that.
I really like the idea of conferencing with students. We do not use formal conferencing during writer's workshop as of now. I think we are going to start soon however. I am not sure what they will look like in the context of our writer's workshop yet because we were focusing on practicing writing techniques for the MEAP during that time. I think that conferencing with students would be very beneficial for not only the students but for me as well. It would be a good way to learn another way of tracking the students progress and giving them more direction during writer's workshop. I also liked what you said about using conferencing to zero in on each students strengths and weaknesses. It allows you to pick one thing for each individual student to focus on that will help them to improve their writing skills.
ReplyDeleteConferencing is a very useful technique for learning about what students can do as writers instead of always focusing on what they can't do. I completely agree that when you conference with a student on their writing is is easier to see past the mechanical errors they make and understand the actual story line they are creating. Even students who struggle with the act of actually writing often have great ideas. They just need help learning how to write them down effectively. We do some conferencing with students in my class on their writing, however these conferences are often very quick and informal. Hopefully later on once the MEAP is done we can take the time to sit down with students, talk to them one-on-one about their writing, and give them very tailored instruction. We have done some of that, but not as much as I would like. How does your CT schedule and structure writing conferences with students?
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