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I am excited to try all of the ideas from the podcast but I think the most important idea is to let my students do the talking from the very beginning. I have been trying to conference with my students a lot this year but it has felt like I am talking at them at times. I try to ask them specific questions like "What did you mean here" or "What is the purpose of this paragraph" but this already is steering the conversation into me correcting their work as opposed to me helping them create something.

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My biggest takeaway from this podcast was the idea that the writing conference should be based around the student's idea of what they are working on. Carl Anderson said "Sometimes as teachers we get paid not to talk" and he explained that sometimes that silence gives students the chance to give valuable insight into what they are struggling with. This was something I had not considered before but I can totally see the value in allowing the student to guide the conference. He also made a great point about the old way of receiving feedback with comments on the actual assignment after its been turned in. I definitely now see how much more valuable that initial discourse is during the writing process as opposed to red ink on a page after its already been finished.

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Our next writing piece begins shortly after break. I would like to meet with students and just have a conversation about their writing as indicated in the podcast. I am feeling okay that it won't be perfect at first, but rather a work in progress. We are writing an elevator pitch, which is short, so this may be a good opportunity to test the waters. I am hoping to also watch some of Anderson's videos to see how these conversations are conducted.

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I think there are several takeaways from this podcast that resonated with me. First and foremost is that conversation piece - "How's it going" and "Say more about that". This is what makes this a student centered workshop versus a teacher centered scenario. It gives the teacher the opportunity to listen to student's as writers and to keep the discussion focused on their writing instead of teacher correcting. I agree that we as teachers tend to look at student writing as something to correct as opposed to a work in progress. The other big takeaway for me is to actually converse about the writing as opposed to instruct. I would love to watch some of those videos to see how to respond to students during this conversation without giving too much for the student to work on at once. I also like that after the one on one conversation, we can meet in small group for mini lessons with students who have similar wriitng concerns.

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It sounds simple, but his reminder to have students talk ABOUT writing, not about WHAT they're writing is one of my biggest application pieces. I jumped this year from 1st grade to 6th, so I find myself getting so caught up in the complex content that we're losing the process and meaning. It is an important re-focusing moment for me to consider how to open the conversation and prompt students to talk about how they are writing and go from there.

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It resonated with me how at one point he explained how the writing conference should be about a targeted, focused need, and not about fixing the students' writing overall. This is a great reminder for all teachers, especially for me in 6th grade - students can quickly become capable of meaningful and specific reflections that can guide my individualized feedback for them.

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 I love that simple question "How's it going?". Giving the student a moment to reflect and verbalize what they need rather than me reading their paper and telling them what they can improve on. I think it will help my students to advocate for themselves during writing instruction!

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 I love that simple question "How's it going?". Giving the student a moment to reflect and verbalize what they need rather than me reading their paper and telling them what they can improve on. I think it will help my students to advocate for themselves during writing instruction!

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Making time to have a writing conference with a student allows you to provide immediate feedback that the student can apply right then and there, but it also provides one on one time with that student that you might not get every day. Not only are you helping them with their writing, but it's an opportunity to show them their work is important to you and that you want to help them succeed.

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Making time to have a writing conference with a student allows you to provide immediate feedback that the student can apply right then and there, but it also provides one on one time with that student that you might not get every day. Not only are you helping them with their writing, but it's an opportunity to show them their work is important to you and that you want to help them succeed.

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I am really excited to start having conversations with my students about their writing. Instead of starting by reading my students writing, I want to simply ask "how's it going?" and go from there. It makes so much more sense to start with how the specific student is feeling/what the student is thinking about their writing than it does to just give them feedback. This approach feels a lot more authentic, purposeful, and feels like it will have a more lasting impression.

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While listening, I was really thinking about my own writing conferences with students. Often, they feel quick and rushed and involve almost no conversation. Listening to Carl Anderson talk about the benefits of having conversations with students about writing was really eye opening. I can clearly see what the benefits of having these conversations would be and how they would help my students communicate about what they're writing and why they're writing in that specific way.