Celebrate and Extend

ConferencingWith

Writers

Presented by:Molly McClure

McWhirter PDLSClear Creek ISD

“I talk to the children the same way I would chat with neighborhood children sitting on my frontporch. What’s uppermost in my mind, however,is my role as the teacher. Years ago, I learned that the job of a writing teacher, in the primary classroom especially, is to celebrate and extend.Most of us have gotten really good at celebratingour students’ efforts. We all need to become good at extending children’s efforts. We can’t be afraid to teach, even if our students are firstyear writers.”

Shelley Harwayne

“The writing conference lies at the heart of writing workshop.” “The writing conference lets you engage in the teaching dynamic that most of us wanted when we entered this profession– a unique one-on-one interaction between you and the student.”

Ralph Fletcher

Key Writing Lessons

1. Conferring is a crucial component of the writing workshop and the element that is the most dramatically different from traditional ways of teaching writing at the elementary level.

2. Classroom teachers have many questions about the content as well as the process of conferring individually with students.

3. Conferring becomes easier when workshop “basics” are in place.

• When teachers have clear and consistent routines, conferences become a regular part of the classroom environment and children know what is expected of them.

• When classrooms have accessible and abundant materials and supplies, students are less likely to interrupt conferences.

• When schools have supportive school-wide structures and beliefs, conferring becomes easier because all members of the community value such essentials as talk, options, assessment-driven instruction, and realistic goals.

• When teachers are well-informed about writing, conferences become easier and more effective because teachers can offer valuable information to students.

• When a climate of trust exists, teachers and students can tend to the work at hand.

4. It is helpful to have a framework in mind when conferring with students.

5. There are practical ways that educators get answers to the inquiries above.

6. Educators can become better at conferring by processing other people’s conferences and by studying their own.

Writing Through Childhood, p.81

Writing Workshop

 “I stress that there is no one way to run a writing workshop. They do not come with an owner’s manual. Instead, I describe effective variations and innovations on what can be considered traditional workshop components.

      A short whole group mini-lesson

      Individual writing and conferring time

      Small or whole group sharing

I also suggest that we value simplicity in the teaching of writing. We are not continuously trying to invent new ways to invite children to write.”

  Shelley Harwayne

The Architecture of Conferences 

Research:

        Observe and interview to understand what the child is trying to do as a writer. Probe to glean more about the child’s intentions. “What are you working on today? Oh, I see that you have gone back to your picture. What do you plan on doing next?”

        Name what the child has already done as a writer and remind the child to do this in the future. “I love the way you added details to your drawing. That’s just what writers do.”

Decide:

        Weigh whether you want to accept or alter the child’s current plans and processes. Decide what you will teach and how you will teach it.

(Of the things that I could teach this child, what is the one thing that is apt to make the biggest difference? What will make the biggest difference not only on this day and in this piece, but for this writer and for all of his or her pieces from this day forward?) This decision is influenced by our curriculum, by our goals for the unit of study and for the child and by our assessment of the child’s progress as a writer.

Teach:

        Help the child get started doing what you hope he or she will do. Intervene to lift the level of what the child is doing. “I have been watching you write and I have one thing to teach you.” Or “Can I show you one thing that good writers do?” (We are hoping to explicitly teach something that we hope he will use often.)

Link:

• Name what the child has done as a writer and remind the child to do this often in the future. “Promise me that forever…

Kinds of Conferences

Content ConferencesContent Conferences - encourages the - encourages the writer to talk in some detail about his/her writer to talk in some detail about his/her subject.subject.

Expectation ConferencesExpectation Conferences – to bring the – to bring the child into the norms and expectations of child into the norms and expectations of the writing workshop.the writing workshop.

Process and Goals ConferencesProcess and Goals Conferences – – teaching what writers do.teaching what writers do.

Conference Fundamentals

Listen

Be present as a reader

Understand the writer

Follow the student’s energy

Build on strengths

Teach one thing

Resources

Calkins, L. (1994). The Art of Teaching Writing. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH

Calkins,L.; Hartman,A; White,Z. (2003). The Conferencing Handbook, Units of Study for Primary Writing: A Yearlong Curriculum, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH

Fletcher, R.; Portalupi,J. (2001). Writing Workshop, The Essential Guide, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.

Harwayne, S. (2001). Writing Through Childhood: Rethinking Process and Product, Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.