Ch.10-12 from wordle.net

Conference with Students



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A writing conference is a meeting to focus on what the student has written and how the child can get better.  Before reading this chapter, I thought of a conference as at least a five to ten minute sit down talk with the student.  Routman says conferences can be thought of as any time the teacher “responds, provides support, ask questions to gain understanding, and or/gives feedback.”  Conferences can occur during whole class shares, walking around the classroom as students are writing, one-on-one formal conferences, and peer conferences.   Conferences should always begin with a positive about the student’s writing.  Conferences may also include demonstration, guided practice, and goal setting, while focusing on one or two main ideas to encourage the child to become a better writer. 

Whole class shares allow a student to share their story with a real audience, and are a very valuable learning time as the teacher conferences with the student aloud.  These authentic settings and materials are much more enjoyable and engaging for the students.  Students feel success, comfort in taking risks, and joy in sharing their stories with others. 

Routman explicitly describes great management techniques: 

·         Keep a notebook to jot down minilessons, students who have shared, students who are demonstrating their learning from the minilesson that day, and goals and suggestions from conferences with a student.  This notebook can be kept by the author’s chair and is a great way to stay organized and hold students accountable. 

·         Spend time frontloading – modeling, shared writing, thinking aloud, and clear expectations -- so students know what is expected before they begin writing

·         Set criteria with students for what good writers do, monitor and take anecdotal notes before conferences, and use peer conferences

I really like the teacher-directed and student-directed conference sheets and the student self-evaluation before a one-on-one conference. The self-evaluation gives responsibility to the student and encourages independence.   This also gives the teacher an idea about how the students feel about their piece.   In my high school composition class, we had peer conferences and we followed a peer conference sheet.  It was helpful to have a guide and reflection tool.  Peer conferencing made our writing that much better before meeting with the teacher.

Organize for Daily Writing

There is a lot of information in this chapter!  Routman breaks up the structure and function of writing workshop and writing throughout the day.  Routman says the only way to find the time for writing is if we value it.  When there is too much time between the writing experiences, the writing doesn’t flow and students aren’t as engaged as when they write every day.  Students should be writing four of five days a week for 30-45 minutes. 

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Writing should be taught whole-to part-to whole.  Routman says students will learn everything the standards require and more with our guidance through these authentic writing experiences – and to think that many school district curriculums focus more on the parts or teaching skills in isolation.  Prior to reading this chapter, I thought writing workshop was structured by following the writing process:  prewrite, draft, revise, edit, and publish.  The structure actually begins by setting a real purpose and audience (real), followed by using gradual release of responsibility, and “celebrating, responding, evaluating, teaching, and moving forward.”   

Following the gradual release of responsibility model, we must model our writing before we expect our students to write.  Choose a topic and use a prewriting strategy (not the same one every time) – we have to remember to explain why we are using the strategy.  Routman says using a graphic organizer is not always the best method – by the time they begin writing we want to make sure they aren’t exhausted from prewriting.  We shouldn’t write more than what we expect from our students that day.  After we think aloud, we should establish criteria for their own writing by asking students, “What did you notice?”

Again, authors (students) should have some choice in what they write about for a meaningful engaging experience.  We should help them choose topics that are worthwhile. After they have an idea, students should talk to each other about their plan for writing.  Talking to someone helps learners get their ideas out and will make writing their ideas easier if they’ve already talked about their plan.  Mini conferences allow the teacher to provide positive feedback of good qualities in the writing as well as probe and teach steps to get more from the writer.  When we conference with our students, we should use authentic questioning with real interest – our students feed on what we provide them.  Routman says “teach it first, label it later.”  We want to explain to our students what they are doing, but we shouldn’t get caught up in the wordiness of it.  We can label and explain after they’re finished and set the tone to not worry about the big words.



Be Efficient and Integrate Basic Skills

Routman describes the importance of teaching writing as whole-part-whole.  Too often we are trying to find the right program or the right structure for teaching writing, when we should be asking ourselves How can I teach writing to make it meaningful?  How do I engage and motivate students to write independently?  We should always start with the big idea, so students have an idea of what is expected and what the end result should look like.  Instead of focusing on skills, we want to encourage ideas.  Writing for a purpose and an audience is crucial for meaningful and authentic writing. 

I help in a  kindergarten room every day for 20 minutes during their write-to-self time.  The teacher gives them a purpose or prompt and provides a real audience – their peers.  The teacher chooses two students a day to come up and share their writing.  She makes it interactive and praises good ideas and thoughts.  She may choose one or two things to correct through a think-aloud, but she mostly praises ideas and risk-taking.

Routman describes a fourth grade teacher teaching writing through the context of a class monthly magazine.  The magazine covers many topics and everyone has a part to develop the articles.  They have a real purpose for writing they can relate to.  They have genuine readers that include parents, other teachers, and administrators.  The students take pride in their writing and become editors of their own work for the readers’ sake.