Conferencing

**Teacher-student Conferencing in the Writing Process**  The writing conference is at the heart of teaching writing and is the core of the writing workshop. The writing conference is a one-on-one strategy that takes place between the student writer and the teacher. Conferring is perhaps the best opportunity for direct and immediate teaching of the complex processes and skills involved in writing. Individual conferences generally are short, about two to five minutes, and occur while the other students are involved in their own independent writing projects.
 * __What Is It? __**

One-on-one conferences with students give teachers a chance to zero in on what each student needs as a writer. According to Don Graves (1994), the "purpose of the writing conference is to help children teach you about what they know so that you can help them more effectively with their writing." Perhaps the most important goal of teaching writing is to create independent writers. "Real" writers are constantly asking themselves questions—looking for ways to make it more meaningful, accurate, and clear—in short, to say precisely what they want to say and get their intended meaning across to their readers. According to Lucy Calkins (1994), "In order for young writers to learn to ask such questions of themselves, teachers and peers need to ask them of young writers. Teacher-student conferences are at the heart of teaching writing. Through them, students learn to interact with their own writing." Conferences can be a powerful tool to begin to understand your students as writers and guide them to an understanding of themselves as writers.
 * __Why Is It Important?__**

__When Should It Be Used?__
Individual writing conferences occur at any grade level where students are involved in independent writing projects. Many teachers try to have an individual conference with every student at least once a week.

__What Does It Look Like?__
It is important to have the structures of a productive writing workshop in place and expectations clearly laid out so that students become used to the routine of the way writing time works. Other students should be busy on their own independent writing projects: Some might be drawing or brainstorming topics in the prewriting phase; some will be drafting; and others will be sharing; while still others will be revising. Some students might be at an editing center that you have set up or a publishing center with bookbinding materials. Establish these centers and a variety of activities before you start individual conferences. It is critical that students learn not to interrupt a conference that is taking place. Emergencies, of course, happen, but in general, interrupting a conference should be off-limits. Teachers keep track of who has had a conference, and the key points, issues, or focus ideas that came out of that conference guide the maintenance of the student’s personal writing goals. Individual conferences should not last long—generally from two to five minutes. 

Because of their individual nature, writing conferences are ideal for assessing where students are in their writing progress. When teachers conduct short but regular writing conferences with their students, they can keep close track of their students' writing needs and adapt their instruction accordingly. Each student maintains a working portfolio which holds all the materials needed to guide them as writers, and brings that portfolio to the conference session. Notes on writing conferences for individual students are kept and reviewed to see progress over time. Recurring issues can be noted and addressed (you can tell if the conferences are beneficial if students are not repeating organizational and grammatical mistakes). By maintaining the students’ personal goals, each student is challenged to grow. To ensure students are focused during conferencing, and understand the coaching they receive, the student records the important talking points, any revisions to personal goals, and keeps a running collection of writing pieces to reflect growth. Using the working portfolio, students build a story of their personal improvement as a writer.  © 2000-2009 Pearson Education, Inc
 * __How Can You Measure Success? __**