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Individualized Writing Instruction: The Art of Conferring Effectively

Individualized Writing Instruction: The Art of Conferring Effectively. Tasha A. Thomas Spartanburg Writing Project Summer Institute 2010. “ Conferencing allows you to individualize instruction to better meet your students ‘where they are,’ and help them get where they need to be.” -Jim Burke

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Individualized Writing Instruction: The Art of Conferring Effectively

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  1. IndividualizedWriting Instruction:The Art of Conferring Effectively Tasha A. Thomas Spartanburg Writing Project Summer Institute 2010

  2. “ Conferencing allows you to individualize instruction to better meet your students ‘where they are,’ and help them get where they need to be.” -Jim Burke The English Teacher’s Companion

  3. Central Questions • How can we support students’ drafting processes without dominating them? 2. How can we stand back and still help?

  4. According to Katie Wood Ray: • It is so significant that we sit down and talk about the writing. • Conferring is Teaching, Not Troubleshooting: establish procedure • Keep the Conference Short: 2-7 minutes

  5. What do you notice? • How is the model conference similar to how you conduct writing conferences? • How is it different? • What did you notice that surprised you? • What do you think was left out that should be integral to a conference?

  6. Four Parts of a Writing Conference: • Research: Tell me about how your writing is going. Tell me what kinds of crafting techniques you are trying in your writing. • Decide: “What does this student need to know?” (see page 165) • Teach: Individualized instruction 4.Make a Record: “The tracks of our teaching”

  7. Conferring is Conversation • Teacher: open the conference and invite the student to talk about the writing • Student: describe the work, the process involved in creating it, and ask specific questions about the piece

  8. Conferring (con.) • Teacher: Listen carefully and ask questions to clarify; offer specific suggestions on improving the writing. Remind what writer’s do. Take anecdotal notes. • Student: Listen carefully to suggestions and ask questions to clarify; determine a plan of action to improve writing. WRITE down the plan.

  9. Process Conferences • Ask questions to learn from students, so that students become more aware of their own aims and your help will be more relevant 1. Process Questions(meta-cognition) 2. Focus Questions (specific to the writing) • Use the conference to discuss the process rather than simply read what the student has written

  10. Students Have to Learn How to Participate in Conferences • “fish bowl” conferencing (model for the whole class) • Confer at students’ desks and allow others to “eavesdrop” • Require students to be prepared before the conference by keeping their own records • Give direct instruction about what is required: • Samples of writing • Verbal responses and asking questions of the teacher • Follow through after the conference

  11. Process and Focus Questions • What did you learn from this piece of writing? • What do you intend to do in your next draft? • What surprised you in the draft? • Where is the piece of writing taking you? • What do you like best in the piece? • What questions do you have for me?

  12. Coaching from The Sidelines • Conference on a regular basis • Teach skills near the end of the conference and focus on one, so the student will remember clearly • Model the kinds of question-asking and problem-solving students can learn to do for themselves and in peer conferences. • The goal is to help students become independent.

  13. Comment Rather than Correct • Work smarter, not harder. • Have students read their work aloud • By responding like a reader who is trying to understand what the student has written, you send a message that the passage needs revision without doing the revising yourself. • Help students focus on what really needs fixing -Carol Jago Papers, Papers, Papers

  14. Reflect • Keep anecdotal records of interactions with students • Records can be very brief notes • Reflect on your own practice • Ask yourself how you might have better helped the student—jot down ideas for later conferences

  15. “We teach just by sitting down and asking about the writing.” -Katie Wood Ray

  16. Problems, Questions, Concerns? • Does anyone actually have time to conference? • What works in your classroom? • How do you manage conferences? Individual? Peer? Small Group?

  17. Resources • Anderson, Carl. How’s It Going. Heinemann, 2000. • Burke, Jim: The English Teacher’s Companion, 1999. • Jago, Carol: Papers, Papers, Papers, 2005. • Ray, Katie Wood: The Writing Workshop, 2001. • Zemelman, Steven and Harvey Daniels: A Community of Writers,1988.

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