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Conferring Tip: Listening Closely | TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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Conferring Tip: Listening Closely | TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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Conferring Tip: Listening Closely

A wise person once told me, conferring is the heart of the writing workshop. And much has been written about how to go about conferring effectively. Guides and professional books abound, videos, websites (this one included), and there's even an app or two out there complete with drop-down menus and spreadsheets.

But all of the whistles and bells aren't much use without listening closely to what kids are showing you in the conference. Personally speaking, in the hustle and bustle of real-time writing workshop, my eye is always on the clock, and my attention is always divided. In any given conference, I'm juggling checklists of teaching moves, the steps of a conference, rubrics, mentor texts. Heck - I've got a whole bag full of conferring toolkit materials I'm itching to use. It is easy to lose sight of the most important part of the conference. Listening closely.

Here are a few tips from a recent brainstorm with some wonderful colleagues at Hiawatha School:

Begin with open-ended questions. Asking a leading question isn't really researching. Start big, then ask follow-up questions. If your conferences jumps straight to following-up on the minilesson you'll miss out on hearing what the child was actually thinking about.

Resist the temptation to over-multitask during a conference. I'm always tempted to read one student's work while listening to another, while simultaneously jotting notes about the table across the way. It's in my nature. I was trained to do this, in fact. While every teacher needs to have eyes on the back of the head, and certainly needs to use time efficiently, I've also been working to focus on what the student in front of me is saying.

Look at the student and observe their body language. Be empathetic toward how the student is feeling in that moment. Do what we often teach students to do: repeat back what you heard the child say. Ask clarifying questions. Don't assume.

Last, but not least, leave plenty of wait time. Literally count out five seconds of silence silently in your head before you say anything. (Trust me, five seconds feels like an eternity if you have not been practicing!)

One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three...

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A wise person once told me, conferring is the heart of the writing workshop. And much has been written about how to go about conferring effectively. Guides and professional books abound, videos, websites (this one included), and there's even an app or two out there complete with drop-down menus and spreadsheets.

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Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article

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Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article

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Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article

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Reading conferences are an important part of the teacher's work during independent reading. The conversations we have with students during this time are meant to provide us with valuable information about students' reading processes, helping us to know how well students are integrating the skills and strategies we have taught during other instructional contexts.

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Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article

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Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article

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Choice Literacy - Articles & Videos - Full Article

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Rather than noticing everything students aren't doing as writers, begin to notice the things they are almost doing. Are they almost illustrating setting details? Are they almost attributing an expert quote correctly? Are they almost using commas in a series conventionally? Are they almost effective at peer editing?

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The Unexpected Power of Reading Conferences | Edutopia

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The Unexpected Power of Reading Conferences | Edutopia

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A high school English teacher has a single accountability measure for her students' choice reading: talking to them about it.

Teachers face many challenges when it comes to helping students develop a love of reading, some of which I wrote about in " Putting an End to Fake Reading," but one of the most daunting is the accountability piece. How do we know if students are actually reading? How do we assess the learning students are gaining from choice reading? How do we include this in our grade books?

I've tried many accountability measures over the years, including reading logs of various formats, book reports, assorted handouts, and reading quizzes on Accelerated Reader, but Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer and Penny Kittle's Book Love helped me realize why those assessments were so unsatisfying. If I wanted my students to become authentic readers, why was I assigning them activities that real readers-including me-would never voluntarily engage in?

I had to ask myself: What do real readers do? And one important part of my own reading life is talking about what I read with others. So I decided to try an experiment and do away with all accountability measures for choice reading except for one-on-one conferences with me.

The results were profoundly positive.

The Logistics of Conferencing

Although the idea of talking about books with students is appealing-honestly, it's one of the main reasons I became an English teacher-the first thing I had to tackle were the logistics of the conferences.

In my on-level 10th grade English classes, I allot 10 to 15 minutes of our 55-minute periods for choice reading, and my students range widely in reading ability and motivation. I was worried that juggling everything going on in my classroom would be overwhelming, but with some structure and fine-tuning, I was able to have great discussions with two to three students each day, and to talk with each of my students at least once a month.

At the beginning of the period each day, I greet students and quickly take down the page number they're on in their books. This serves several purposes. First, it's a reminder for students to have their books out and open for reading right at the beginning of the period. Also, it gives me a quick way of assessing their progress through their book. If a student has read only a few pages over the course of the week, I know they're probably in need of some help in either getting into their books or choosing a new one, and a conference is a perfect way to work out which it is and find a solution.

I then grab my reading conference binder and sit down in one of two chairs I've arranged in a comfy corner of my room, calling over a student to begin our chat. I've established norms for independent work in my classroom, so with occasional reminders, students know that this is a time to work quietly on their own.

Keeping Track of Conversations

To keep track of conferences, I keep a binder with dividers for each class and a note sheet for each student where I record the details of our conversations for future reference.

I always start out by asking each student to remind me what they're currently reading and what page they're on, and I ask what rating they would give their book and why. This gives us a jumping-off point for what to talk about next. I also have some reading conference questions to refer to if I'm stuck for something to ask, but the more I conference with students, the easier it is to know what to talk about. I only need to remember my purpose for reading conferences: supporting students in thinking about their books and helping them find books they enjoy.

Assessing Choice Reading

Real-life readers don't get scored for reading for pleasure, but I do want to encourage students to find books they enjoy and to give them a way to keep track of their own reading progress, so I created a simple sheet for them to record the books they finish, along with their thoughts about what they read. When students finish a book, they complete this sheet and bring it to our conference, and we use it to talk about the book and what they might like to read next.

I don't have a requirement for how many books students must finish, and these sheets are not scored in any way. I simply save them in the student's class file for reflection at the end of the grading period. The only score my students receive for choice reading is this reading reflection each six weeks, in which they write their thoughts and feelings about the books they've read and what they'd like to read next. I give them completion points, not a grade, for doing the reflection.

The Results of My Choice Reading Experiment

When I began this experiment, I was concerned that, without the accountability of points entered in the grade book, my students would not be motivated to read. My fear, however, was proven beautifully unfounded.

More of my students read far more books than ever before, and with our regular conversations, it's far easier to notice and support students who are struggling with finding a book they enjoy. I'm able to tap into some student interests-sports fiction and poetry collections among them-and, most importantly, I've noticed my connections with students strengthening. And that's probably the most important thing a teacher can do to improve learning in the classroom.

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The Unexpected Power of Reading Conferences

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A high school English teacher has a single accountability measure for her students' choice reading: talking to them about it.

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This is the year I’m going to keep better records. | TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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This is the year I’m going to keep better records. | TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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This is the year I'm going to keep better records.

I craved chocolate chip cookies, eight summers ago, when I was pregnant with my daughter. Despite needing compression stockings to quell the swelling in my legs, I had no qualms about standing in the kitchen to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch. I was very pregnant and willing to try many recipes in the search of the perfect cookie. After tasting what I thought would be the best cookie yet, I was happy for a while, but after eating several cookies, I typically had a complaint. Some recipes were too crunchy while others were too greasy. Therefore, I'd try to figure out what to change (e.g., a different ratio of brown sugar to white sugar, softened butter instead of melted butter) and bake another batch.

Besides finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, there are a handful of things I've become obsessively passionate about getting right. One of the other things I've tried to perfect are my conferring records. In fact, I've obsessed over record-keeping forms even more than chocolate chip cookie recipes. When it came to record-keeping forms, everything I tried worked for a while for the purpose of organization and documentation, but the information wasn't truly driving my instruction.
Why does record-keeping matter?
Record-keeping can seem challenging. But, like anything else, it's important to think about why we keep records. Record-keeping helps you distribute your time equitably amongst your students. It allows you to see the tracks of your teaching. Record-keeping helps you monitor student growth. It also helps with goal-setting. Finally, keeping records of conferences and strategy lessons allows you to determine the next steps with each student, small groups, or the whole class.

Regardless of what kind of record-keeping form you use, it's helpful to jot down notes in the moment, rather than waiting until the end of the school day. I suggest teachers take notes when their students are actively involved in trying out the strategy you taught them or in-between writing conferences. Writing notes when you're in the moment allows your record-keeping to be accurate and detailed.

Now that we've established that record keeping matters, I want to share my record-keeping journey with you (complete with a variety of forms you can download at the end of this post).
Class-at-a-Glance Grids
I started obsessing over my conferring record keeping sheets when I was a fifth-grade teacher in Manhattan. I tried using a class conferring manifest , which is a single sheet of paper that has all of the students' names, dates you conferred with them, and the teaching point you delivered on one sheet of paper. Thing is, I taught 26 - 32 fifth graders so I couldn't fit all of my students on one sheet of 8.5" x 11" paper! Therefore, I had to keep two sheets of paper on my clipboard, which meant I couldn't glance at the manifest quickly. In addition, the manifest didn't feel detailed enough for me since I couldn't keep track of the compliments I gave to my students when I met with them.
Three-Column Notes
Next, I created sections for each student in a spiral notebook that allowed me to or the track my observations and teaching points compliments and teaching points I delivered every time I met with a student. I used stick-on tabs to separate each child's section, which was four back-and-front pages, from the next. I used a sheets like these on and off for a few years. What I didn't know then, that I understand now, is that these pages were too sparse for me.
Carbonless Notebooks
I went through a period where I used this same three-column system, but housed it in a carbonless notebook so my students could have a "carbon copy" of my conferring notes. (They housed their carbonless copy in their writing folder.) Eventually, this system became cumbersome since there were always a handful of students who misplaced their carbonless copy. Once I learned about the idea of leaving behind a tangible artifact for students at the end of a writing conference, my carbonless notebook became obsolete. Another idea, which I learned about recently from Melanie Meehan, are conference cards , which can be a useful tool for a teacher as s/he has a conference and for the student to recall what s/he discussed in the writing conference after the teacher has departed.
Forms for Three-Ring Binders
After studying with Lucy Calkins and Carl Anderson in the summer of 2008, I realized my conference record keeping forms needed a massive reboot. I bounced around a lot that year, going back and forth between my old three-column chart and using a three-ring binder to house a variety of record-keeping sheets in every student's section that captured more information (e.g., , next steps mentor texts) .

I took a week-long course in at the 2011 TCRWP Summer Writing Institute. After studying with Carl, I realized conferring record-keeping sheets should have a space for students' writing goals so they can be kept top-of-mind. Therefore, I updated one of my three-ring binder forms so it had space for each student's name, his/her writing goals, and then ample space to record a compliment, teaching point, and future teaching plans. Finally, after seven years of tinkering with record-keeping forms, I Assessment-Based Writing Instruction with Carl Anderson finally felt like I got a record-keeping sheet right .
Digital Records
In early 2013, my PLN was a buzz about Evernote. (I purchased a premium subscription that same summer and have allowed Evernote to transform my life by digitizing all of the paper that used to surround me.) Cathy Mere shared her expertise for using Evernote to keep digital conferring records in a December 2013 guest blog post here on TWT . Once I read her post, I decided digital conferring notes would be a smarter way to go for me since I see kids in different schools due to the nature of my life as a literacy consultant. Having paper records just doesn't make sense for me at this point in my career.

Initially, I created templates for 1:1 conferences and strategy lessons on . However, when Kustomnote was bought out by , I started keeping more simplified notes in Evernote. This was ineffective since I often forgot to write down key information. Eventually, I came across an Evernote . Therefore, once I created Kustomnote Transpose how-to about creating templates conferring and strategy lesson templates, all I have to do when I want to use a template from my template library notebook, is to right-click and choose "copy to notebook" from the pop-up menu. Then, I select the notebook I want to copy a template into and I'm ready to keep my records.

What's great about Evernote (BTW: I don't work for Evernote. Simply put, I love their product!) is that you can take photos of student work to embed in each student's note file. Also, you can record audio clips of your conferences or strategy lessons and place them in your notes. Not only will this help you hold onto what students are working on, but your digital conferring notes can make parent-teacher conferences come alive since parents will get to see and hear their students in action.

Why did I take you on this journey? I could've written this post and included links to a variety of record-keeping forms (You'll find links to all of the above-mentioned forms below!) with the hope one of them would transform your record-keeping this year. However, I wanted you to realize that even if this is the year you're going to keep better conference records, then you must understand that you, too, will go on a journey to find a record-keeping system that works for you. Don't let anyone tell you what form to use! You must find a system that works for you even when it feels messy and giving up (and not keeping records) seems like the better option. Therefore, pick something and try it out for a week. Reflect. Refine your record-keeping tool or start anew. You'll know you have a record-keeping system that's working when you regularly examine your notes in order to plan for future conferences, strategy lessons, and mini-lessons. Don't be afraid to tweak your record-keeping system until you find one that feels as right as the perfect chocolate chip cookie tastes.
Let this be the year you're going to keep better conferring records!
Ready to get started? Here are some action steps to take depending on how much (or how little) you've kept records in the past.

Links to Record Keeping Forms:

Bonus Links to My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:

This giveaway is for a copy of . Thanks to Kids 1st from Day 1: A Teacher's Guide to Today's Classroom Heinemann for donating a copy for one reader. (You must have a U.S. mailing address to win a copy of this book.)

For a chance to win this copy of Kids 1st from Day 1: A Teacher's Guide to Today's Classroom, please leave a comment about this or any blog post in this blog series by Sunday, August 12th at 6:00 p.m. EDT. Melanie Meehan will use a random number generator to pick the winner's commenter number. His/her name will be announced in the ICYMI blog post for this series on Monday, August 13th.

Please leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment so Melanie can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Heinemann will ship the book to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)

If you are the winner of the book, Melanie will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - KIDS 1ST. Please respond to her e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. A new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

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This is the year I'm going to keep better records.

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Want to keep (better) conferring records, but don't know where to begin? This post will help you discover analog and digital record-keeping systems. Read all the way through since there will are lots of downloadable templates to help you get started.

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What Administrators Can Do to Promote a Reading Culture |

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What Administrators Can Do to Promote a Reading Culture |

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Dear administrators,

I have been pleading with teachers for a few years to please help students become passionate readers. I have given as many ideas as I could and directed toward the great minds that inspire me as well. I have begged at times, sharing the words of my students as proof that we teachers have an immense power when it comes to either nurturing a love of reading or killing it. There are so many things we teachers can do that will have a lasting effect.

And yet, it is not just the teachers that have an immense power over whether children will read or not. It turns out that much of that power also lies within the realm of administration. In fact, many of you that are doing incredible things to create schools that are seen as literacy communities that cherish the act of reading and becoming readers. What are they doing? What can you do to foster a love of reading school-wide?

You can believe in choice for all. That means protecting the rights of students to read the books they choose. To help staff support this as well by speaking about choice, and making sure not to put restrictive policies in place that will hinder a child from developing their own reading identity. That will stop a child from choosing a book they want to read. Teachers should not be the only ones choosing books for students, please don't put them in that position. Instead, they should be working with students to learn how to self-select great books based on many things, not just their levels!

You can buy books. Research shows again and again how vital having not only a well-stocked school library, but also a full classroom library, is to students becoming better readers. Students need books at their finger tips, not far away, and they need high quality, high interest books. That takes money, please help out in any way you can.

You can fight to have a librarian full-time in your building. Everywhere we are seeing libraries that have no librarians, yet a knowledgeable librarian can be the lifeblood of a reading community. I know budgets are being slashed, but the librarian should be seen as a necessity in schools, not as an unnecessary privilege.

You can celebrate books read. Not the number of minutes logged or the points gained in computer based reading programs. How about keeping a running tally of how many books students self-selected to read and then finished? How about you keep a display board of all of the picture books being shared in your school, yes, even in middle school and high school? Celebrate the right things, not the ones that can kill a love of reading.

You can protect the read aloud. When schedules are made there should be time placed for reading aloud. This should not be seen as a frill, nor as something that would be nice to fit in if only we had more time. All students at every age should encounter an adult that reads fluently with expression aloud to them every day. It develops their minds as readers and creates community. This should not just be reserved for special times in elementary school but should be protected throughout a child's reading experience in school.

You can promote independent reading time. Students reading silently is not time wasted, it is one of the most important investments we can make in our school day for any child, any age. If you want children to become better readers, then give them the time to read.

You can hire teachers that love reading. I am amazed that there are teachers who teach literacy in any capacity that do not identify themselves as readers. This should not be happening. Years of experience shows that students will read more if we read as well and are able to create a book community where our love of reading is a cornerstone of what we do. Even when I taught non-literacy subjects, even when I taught science, the fact that I read for my own pleasure meant that our conversations were deeper, more engaging, and the students trusted me as a reading role model.

You can use levels for books and not for children. Too often the levels that a child reads at becomes their entire reading identity. Yet, that level is meant to be a teacher's tool and not a child's label to quote Fountas and Pinnell. That level should be a part of that child's reading identity but not the thing that defines them. We should not have policies in place where students can only choose books that are at their levels, but instead have policies that promote exploration of texts so that students have a natural chance to figure out who they are as readers. Confining them, even if meant to be helpful, will hurt them in the long run.

You can have tough conversations. Part of my job as a teacher is to grow and learn and while I think that most of my ideas are solid, I wish an administrator would have questioned me when I had students do reading logs and forced book reports a few years back. While the push-back may be hard to swallow, it certainly would have made me think. However, within those tough conversations, please do listen to the teacher as well. What are they basing their decisions on? Perhaps they are the ones who are right, perhaps not, but ask the questions and keep the bigger goal in mind; students who like to read!
What else can you do to create a school where the love of reading flourishes?
You can be a guest read alouder.

You can have books in your office for students to read.

You can share your own reading life by displaying your titles outside your office.

You can make assemblies and other fun events celebrate literacy.

You can bring in authors.

You can promote reading literacy projects like The Global Read Aloud or Dot Day.

You can ask students what they are reading whenever you see them.

You can institute school-wide independent reading time.

You can stand up for poor literacy decisions being made within your district.

You can ask your teachers for ideas. You can ask your students what they need and then implement their wishes when possible.

You can send your teachers to professional development with the likes of Kylene Beers, Donalyn Miller, Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher and any other of the incredibly talented literacy experts that inspire us all.

There are so many things that fall within your realm, please help us teachers (like my principal Shannon Anderson does) protect the love of reading that students have and nurture it as we teach. You can choose to create passionate reading environments or you can support decisions that smother them. The choice is yours.
If you like what you read here, consider reading my book Passionate Learners - How to Engage and Empower Your Students. The 2nd edition and actual book-book (not just e-book!) comes out September 22nd from Routledge, but rumor has it that it is out on Kindle already!

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What Administrators Can Do to Promote a Reading Culture

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Dear administrators, I have been pleading with teachers for a few years to please help students become passionate readers. I have given as many ideas as I could and directed toward the great minds that inspire me as well. I have begged at times, sharing the words of my students as proof that we teachers...

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G3 TA Conferring PL 2017/18 - Google Slides

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G3 TA Conferring PL 2017/18 - Google Slides

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Conferencing: The Heart of Reading and Writing Workshop

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Conferencing: The Heart of Reading and Writing Workshop

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by Melissa Schwartz, Guest Author

Carl Anderson has once said, "Conferring is not the icing on the cake; it is the cake." Reading workshops and writing workshops have many components to them. One of the most important parts in the workshop model is conferencing, also known as conferring.

When a teacher is conferencing with a student or a small group of students, they are working on skills that need to be reinforced or skills that will provide enrichment. There are many benefits to conferencing with students:

1. Conferences provide individualized instruction for each student.

2. Conferences can provide insight into what the student is doing while reading and writing.

3. Conferences can help the teacher investigate student knowledge.

4. Conferencing can help assess the student.

5. Conferencing can provide reinforcement and/or enrichment of skills

6. Conferencing can help students improve their reading level.

Conferencing is an ongoing process. It is recommended that conferencing with students or a group of students occur in the middle of the workshop; that is, during the independent practice part of reading and writing.

Conferencing can be organized in many ways. As mentioned before, conferencing can occur with one student, pairs of students, or groups of students. This is dependent on what skills are needed and what lessons will be taught during the conferences.

I recommend when conferencing, you bring around a binder with the tabs with each student's name. As amazing as it would be to meet with every single student in the class during independent practice (about a 40 minute time period), this is difficult. With a class of about twenty students, I try to meet with each student about twice a week. This can be achieved by meeting with the students once individually and once in a group.

When conferencing with one or two students, I never take them out of their reading spots because it is helpful for other students around them to overhear the skills taught. During small group instruction, I pull those students to a table while I am teaching the skill. It is important to remember that during these skill groups, students are still working on their individual independent books or writing projects.

With younger students, they may read the same books while you are teaching them the skills; however it is important to remember that you do not have the students read round robin. Many students get nervous reading aloud in front of a group of students. It also may result in a loss of focus for students who are not reading at the time. During these group sessions, teach the skill as a whole group, have the students practice the skill and then walk around the group and work with each individual student on the skill taught.

Carl Anderson, a guru in conferencing and author of the book, How's it Going?, recommends the following conference structure:

1. Compliment the writer: Try to make compliments focused around the teaching point of the day's lesson.

2. State the Teaching Point: Make this teaching point specific to what you notice with the students' reading and writing. Examples include: meaning, structure, detail, etc...

3. Provide a Metaphor: Focus the students by bringing the text back to something meaningful in their life.

4. Study a Mentor Text: Show examples of strategies.

5. Teach the Strategy: Show students how strategies can be applied in their reading or writing.

6. Practice: Ensure comprehension of the strategy.

7. Keep Notes: Record the teaching point and goals, and return to it again.

If you would like to see examples of conferences, please see the links below.

Note: Conferences should last about 5 minutes and should consist of only one strategy.

There are many things that can be taught during conferencing. Many suggestions are in the links and books below, but I would like to remind you that you are teaching the reader and the writer, not the reading and the writing. In other words, you are teaching the students skills that can be applied to multiple areas in reading and writing. These are skills that can be transferred to different books and different types of writing.

In addition to keeping a student checklist, a wonderful way to keep track of the information from the conference is with a chart. Now there are many ways to keep track, depending on your preference, but I like to make a sheet with a table for each student. These papers can then be organized in a binder with tabs.

Research is one of the most important aspects of the reading and writing conferences. This is the time when you are learning about what the student is already doing and what skills he or she has. You can then take these skills and determine what he or she needs support.

Conferencing is crucial to your students' development in reading and writing. This special time that you spend with students during conferences can help guide them towards improved reading and writing skills.

"Conferring with Readers: Supporting Each Student's Growth and Independence," by Gravity Goldberg and Jennifer Serravallo

"Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop," by Patrick A. Allen

"The Reading Strategies Book," by Jennifer Serravallo

"How's it Going?" by Carl Anderson

Melissa Schwartz, still a kid at heart, is a fourth grade teacher in an elementary school in Northern New Jersey. As a teacher for over ten years, she provides her students with the gift for the passion of learning. She prides herself in teaching lessons that are interactive, educational, and fun. Melissa received a dual degree in both elementary and special education at the University of Delaware. She also received a Master's Degree as a Reading Specialist and Supervision at Fairleigh Dickinson University. In addition to teaching fourth grade, she has taught third grade, gifted and talented, and special education. She also received the honor of "Teacher of the Year" during her second year of teaching! Melissa also has a passion for traveling, history, reading, and a love of her dog, Maggie.

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Conferencing: The Heart of Reading and Writing Workshop

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by Melissa Schwartz, Guest Author Carl Anderson has once said, "Conferring is not the icing on the cake; it is the cake." Reading workshops and writing workshops have many components to them. One of the most important parts in the workshop model is conferencing, also known as conferring.

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Conferring: Writing Workshop Fundamentals | TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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Conferring: Writing Workshop Fundamentals | TWO WRITING TEACHERS

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"Lift the ball with your right hand, and pretend your right knee is tied to your right elbow." Placing the orange ball uncertainly in my right hand, I glanced over at Mr. Brown, my new basketball coach. Fixing his gaze squarely upon me, he added, "You can do this." It was my 8th grade year, and unexpectedly I had been selected for the varsity basketball team. Somewhere during the first week of practice, I found myself working at one of the side baskets of the court with my coach practicing lay-ups - a basic fundamental of basketball. Working with him one-on-one, my coach was talking me through and showing me - step by step- how to make a lay-up.

In the writing workshop, this approach of working with a single student to support his or her writing repertoire is not much different from the individual coaching I received from Mr. Brown those many years ago.
A Writing Conference: What is it?
One of the important goals of writing workshop is to slow down the process of writing so that feedback is possible the process, not just at the end. Feedback has been identified as having a significant effect on student achievement (for more on this, read ). According to Peter Johnston, the purposes of feedback are to: (1) improve conceptual understanding, and (2) increase strategic options while developing stamina, resilience, and motivation (Johnston, 2012).

One effective way to provide feedback to learners is through conferring. Now, I hear many teachers, when discussing conversations with individual writers, use the word "conferencing." But recalling a workshop I took with author Carl Anderson , I remember him pointing out that when we sit and talk with students about their writing, it is called conferring , not conferencing. Conferring is a means of both assessing and providing targeted individualized instruction to students in a way that no whole class instruction can. It is a means by which teachers can quickly gather information about their students to determine where they currently fall on a continuum of learning, and then begin to help them move to the next level of performance.

Conferences are a powerful way to support each student's growth and independence because teachers are able to meet students right where they are and provide instruction that will potentially have the biggest impact.

During the independent time of writing workshop, we want to pull up next to our writers to confer with them about their writing. A writing conference is a one-to-one interaction between an individual writer and her teacher, and it is arguably the single most effective way to help a student improve. During this time, we as teachers assess the level to which a student is currently writing and select one way we can provide feedback that supports the student in lifting the level of his writing. As teachers, we always want to keep in mind that we are working to teach the writer, not fix the writing.

This approach is starkly in contrast to sitting down to fix up what the student has written, or tell the writer everything she needs to add in order to "make it better." During a writing conference, we are not telling students how to "fix" their writing or what they should or should not do to make this particular piece better. Rather, we are aiming to teach them a transferable strategy they might use in any similar piece of writing.

It is also in contrast to sitting down to be an editor. As author Carl Anderson pointed out in his fall 2016 workshop in New York City,

The old thinking was that if teachers are editors, correct everything, and punish students, they will learn how to write; the fallacy there is that teachers already know how to write. It's not fair to be their editor. We need to be their teacher. So we teach one thing in a conference. We assess and teach one thing (Teachers College Reading & Writing Project Saturday Reunion, fall 2016) .

While the approach of editor may serve to make the particular piece of writing better, it does little to support the student in becoming a stronger, more independent writer. Therefore, we focus our conferring energies on the writers themselves.
The Architecture of a Conference: What to Do
While there is indeed no one way to conduct a writing conference, we have found it helpful to follow a few steps to increase the odds that each conference yields an impactful result. The steps of a Research-Decide-Teach ("RDT Conference"), often called an "architecture," are outlined below. There are other types of conferences as well, such as a compliment conference, but the RDT Conference is a good starting place.

Research- One of the goals of the research phase of a writing conference is to nudge kids to talk at a higher level about their writing. Initially, conferences often begin by asking the student an open-ended question, a question that gets them to say a lot about their writing. I'll often initiate a conference by asking, "What can you tell me about the work you're doing as a writer today?" And then listen. Often, students will need further prompting, so we may need to ask a few assessment questions to instigate more talk on the part of the writer, nudging them to provide us with more information about their work (see suggestions below). If we are returning to a student, perhaps from earlier in the week or last week, we want to be sure to check our conferring notes to follow-through on previous conferences. To do this, we might say, "Last time we met we worked on____... how's that going for you?" or "Would you show me a few places where you tried it?"

In addition to listening, the research phase is also a time to read of the student's work. You don't have to read all of it! Frequently, it pays to read the part about which you and the student are conversing. While reading, look for how the student is doing or progressing in the area of writing upon which your discussion is focused.

Compliment- After researching students, we provide them with feedback. And we begin with a compliment. This compliment should be authentic, specific, and serve to acknowledge one thing the writer is doing you would love for them to continue doing. Now, they may not be doing it elegantly or perfectly! But perhaps, they are on what Peter Elbow calls "the edge" of doing it. So compliment them on it!

One way to light someone up is to acknowledge them for something. And a compliment should do both: Light the student up (try to make them smile!) and acknowledge them for a writerly move they are already demonstrating.

Lucy Calkins once said, "A good compliment can accelerate achievement." And when students know they'll be receiving feedback that is positive, they will be glad to see us sit down next to them.

Teach- Following the compliment, writing workshop teachers will often ask, "Can I teach you something?" At this point, we have silently selected in our teacher minds one thing, one method or move, that would benefit this student in his or her writing. This is often in the form of a tip or strategy that we are now going to take some time to teach the writer. It is important to remember that this tip should be something that is (a) within the writer's zone of proximal development, and (b) transferable to pieces of future writing.

So we begin by stating what the writing move or convention is and explaining it. Many times, I'll rely on two basic steps to teach students during a conference:

(1.) Step One: Use a mentor text - Most of the time, I'll begin by saying, "One thing that helps me..." and I'll show the student by way of my own writing (or sometimes I use another writer's text) what it is I am attempting to teach. During this process, it's important to break down the writing move, convention, or strategy into replicable steps that a student can follow.

(2.) Step Two: Ask the student to try - After teaching the student, ask them to try it in their own writing piece. You may ask them to physically write it in front of you or "write it in the air," which means to say what they write, while not physically writing. This often saves time and allows us to assess whether or not students actually understood what it was we were attempting to teach.

Link- Essentially, the link is a recap of what we just taught the writer. Writing workshop teachers often end conferences by saying the words, "So today, and everyday, when you are . . ." and restating the teaching point. It's helpful to leave an artifact, if possible. This may by a post-it with the strategy written on it, or perhaps a copy of a mentor text we used during the conference.
Quick Tips

Aim for three to four conferences per workshop- As a teacher, especially when we are just getting started, it is helpful to set a goal for how many conferences we want to hold during a workshop. This will, of course, depend on our time structure and how many students we teach. Middle school teachers often hold fewer individual conferences and rely more on small groups.

Avoid questioning the conference away- Carl Anderson recommends conferences be around 4-7 minutes long. Be careful not to spend this entire conference time asking students questions! This will negate effectiveness and begin to intrude on actual teaching time (which is a main point of conferring). A few high-leverage assessment questions might sound like:

"How's that going?"

"Can you say more about that?"

"Can you show me where you tried that in your writing?"

Do your homework ahead of conferences- Research often starts by observing the student from afar, looking through past conferring notes and by taking a tour through their notebook/folder/on-demand ahead of time, and/or while they are still writing. Walking into a conference "prepared" can help us feel more confident about how to best support a writer.

Think about what's easy and what's going to be tricky for this writer- Conferences help build important relationship between teachers and writers, so as we get to know our students, we can begin to anticipate what strengths and needs each student has within his or her writing as we approach each conference.

Confer with students, even if you don't feel like you are "good at it" - It takes time to become good at conferring- years, even! But realize that even by the sheer fact that we are sitting down next to students to talk with them about their writing, we are sending a positive message that helps nurture a crucial element to teaching: relationship with student.

Keep records of your conferring - It is helpful to write some things down after each conference. This allows us to both remember what we taught in previous conferences, as well as assess as to what degree our previous teaching "stuck with" our writers.

Next Steps

In your conferences, work to establish multiple lines of inquiry with writers. You might ask, "So that's one thing you're working on. What else are you working on?" Or, "Tell me about how punctuation will help us read this part here?" Or, "Can you say a little about how this part fits with what you know about this type of writing?" Establishing multiple lines of inquiry can help determine what the most appropriate or needed teaching point might be.

Work on building a conferring kit. Often kits include samples of teacher writing, mentor texts that students are familiar with, post-it notes, copies of checklists and/or rubrics, and lists of possible assessment questions.

Link Roundup from TWT Suggested Reading
GIVEAWAY: RENEW! BECOME A BETTER AND MORE AUTHENTIC WRITING TEACHER, BY SHAWNA COPPOLA

This giveaway is for a copy of Renew! Become a Better - and More Authentic - Writing Teacher.Many thanks to Stenhouse Publishers for donating a copy for one reader. (If the winner has a U.S. address, you may choose a paper or eBook. If the winner has an international mailing address, then you will receive an eBook.)

For a chance to win this copy of Renew! Become a Better - and More Authentic - Writing Teacher,please leave a comment about this or any blog post in this blog series by Monday, August 7th at 5:00 p.m. EDT. Beth Moore will use a random number generator to pick the winner's commenter number. His/her name will be announced in the ICYMI blog post for this series on Tuesday, August 8th.

Please be sure to leave a valid e-mail address when you post your comment, so Beth can contact you to obtain your mailing address if you win. From there, our contact at Stenhouse will ship your book out to you. (NOTE: Your e-mail address will not be published online if you leave it in the e-mail field only.)

If you are the winner of the book, Betsy will email you with the subject line of TWO WRITING TEACHERS - RENEW BOOK. Please respond to her e-mail with your mailing address within five days of receipt. Unfortunately, a new winner will be chosen if a response isn't received within five days of the giveaway announcement.

For more than 29 years, Lanny has taught, coached, presented, staff developed, and consulted within the exciting and enigmatic world of literacy. With unyielding passion and belief in the possibility of workshop teaching, Lanny has worked to support students, teachers, and school administrators around the country in outgrowing themselves as both writers and readers. Working first as a classroom teacher, then as a coach and TCRWP Staff Developer, Lanny is now a literacy specialist, working and living in the great state of Connecticut. Outside of literacy, he enjoys raising his three ambitious young daughters with his wife, and playing the piano. Find him on this blog, as well as on Twitter @LannyBall. Lanny is also a former co-author of a blog dedicated to supporting writing teachers and coaches that maintain classroom writing workshops, twowritingteachers.org. View all posts by Lanny Ball

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"Lift the ball with your right hand, and pretend your right knee is tied to your right elbow." Placing the orange ball uncertainly in my right hand, I glanced over at Mr. Brown, my new basketball coach. Fixing his gaze squarely upon me, he added, "You can do this."