Chapter 9-Conference with Students
A writing conference is a meeting to discuss student work. Conferences help children grow as writers. There are a number of writing conferences: whole class, quick shares, on the run conferences, one-on-one formal conferences, and peer conferences. In my first grade classroom, I tend to do whole class share, on-the-run conferences, and one-on-one conferences. These all seem to be work the best in my classroom, even though I’m interested in doing the peer conferences. I struggle to find a way to do an effective way with 6 year olds doing peer conferences. The students do not have as much guidance and this seems to be relaxed where students are not getting anything out of their time.
Conducting roving conferences is something that I usually do on a regular basis everyday. I liked the idea of having anecdotal notes where I can easily jot down how the students are doing and some specific guidance. This would be a great way to show the progress the student is making, and easily communicated with parents. There are several things that make a conference productive. These may include: having the student sit side by side, listen for and focus on the writer’s strengths and message, and narrowing the teaching focus to one or two major points.
Most importantly, I liked how the author stated to be generous with praise. This means that information being relayed is not just towards one student, but modeling a response for all students. When you don’t think those little ears are listening, they really are! After many demonstrations and lots of practice, students begin to pick up on writing language and behavior in a whole-class share and in peer conferences.
Erica, I like what you said about being generous with praise. This is so important, both for the student you're talking to and to enable the whole class to "pick up on writing language and behavior in a whole-class share and in peer conferences." Excellent point, and well put!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with narrowing the teaching focus to one or two major points in conferences. If you try to cover everything every time, they're going to glaze over and not hear or remember any of it. I loved that idea of having the student read their paper to you rather than looking at their paper yourself, to help you focus on their content rather than nitpicking on their conventions before it is time to do that.
I cannot imagine trying to conduct a one on one conference and expect six year old students to be able to conduct their own peer conferences. It was hard for my seventh graders, and they know how to write. The whole class share is probably very fun at the elementary level with their development in writing and their eagerness to share.
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