Well I'm relieved! Just the word conference and 28 students petrified me!!! This chapter eased my mind and tension with conferencing with students. I already mini-conference frequently - just didn't title it as such. I've noticed the kids are very respectful about noise and ownership of work when I ambulate around the room checking writing. Although I haven't journaled myself on the students skills on a chart, it may be worthwhile to do so if it is a formal conference.
I particularly liked the quickshare. I tend to let the student tell me the "whole thing" and I could focus on more students if I asked them to choose a particular part, ie: best line, something new they tried, topic sentence etc....
Since I teach 6th grade the goal is to have the students monitor their own writing and problem solve independently so they can eventually draft, rewrite, revise, publish, and edit mostly on their own. Definitely we need more writing opportunities to increase this possibility. The editing conference guide on P. 234 would be a great writing check to keep in their writing folders. I've decided to make a copy for each student.
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I agree. This chapter did make the task of conferencing more doable.
I also think the editing conference guide is a useful tool. I'm hoping to have my students use it as part of their pre-conference preparations.
I liked her idea of quickshares. That idea was somewhat liberating for me . . . knowing that she would approve of my often, informal approach to conferences.
Chris,
I think your idea of giving a copy of page 234 to every student is a great idea! That idea goes right along with making the students be accountable for editing their own papers and doing the job well.
This chapter relieved some stress about conferencing for all of us!! It was so reassuring to stop and realize that we do conference regularly with our student's and that it doesn't mean on formal one-to-one conference!
Chris, I liked her quickshare too. Like you, I tend to let students share the whole piece with the class or me. This does take time, and I never want to give up the celebration or share time, but the quickshare could have the same positive effect, and I agree, we could focus on more students. Good thoughts!
I also was stressed at the idea of conferencing with every student and it was a relief to know that I had already done some of the things she mentioned.
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