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A Danielson Observation of a TCRWP Fourth Grade Writing Workshop in an Integrated Co-Teaching Class - An Observation of a Writing Minilesson

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Empowering Learners - Conferring Questions

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Empowering Learners - Conferring Questions

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Empowering Learners - Conferring Questions.pdf

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A Writing Conference: Teaching a Student to Write for Audience (3-5)

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Check out this video to see Kate Roberts teach a writing small group using the inquiry method.

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Assessing Endings to Persuasive Essays in Order to Clarify Expectations and Inform Essay Revisions (5-8)

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An Ensuing Conference: Providing Critical Feedback to Raise Standards (5-8)

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scroll to the last one for a MS example

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From A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences of The Classroom Essentials Series
Invite students to have a real give-and-take with you.

Even though in conferences you're a teacher talking to students, you're also a (more experienced) writer talking to (less experienced) fellow writers about what writers do-come up with topics, make a plan for a piece of writing, write a lead, develop a section
with detail, use commas in a series, and so on. In this give and take, you learn about what students are trying to do as writers and how well they're doing it, and the students learn how they can do their work better.

Speak in a conversational tone.

Tone is the foundation of the good relationships you want to develop with students over the course of the school year. Speaking in a warm, friendly manner puts students at ease and makes it more likely they will talk with you about what they're trying to do as writers. What you learn from this talk helps you assess students and decide what you should teach to help them grow.

Sit alongside students, at their eye level.

How you sit with students helps you establish a positive tone in conferences. You might grab a nearby empty seat or sit on one that you carry with you around the classroom. As you sit, it's important to make frequent eye contact with students and make sure that your
facial expressions show an interest in what students are telling you.

Use "active listening" strategies.

For example, give some wait time after asking a question so that students have the time and space they need to come up with a response. Ask students to "say more" about what they tell you. And repeat what children say to check that you're hearing them correctly.
Using these strategies shows that you have a real interest in what students are saying and that you're really trying to understand them. Students will usually respond by talking to you more.

The goal of a writing conference is to teach students something about writing that they can use in the future. If you add to students' writing repertoires in every conference, they become better writers over time.

Learn more at Heinemann.com

Carl Anderson is one of the nation's leading experts on teaching writing to students in grades K-12. He dedicates his energies exclusively as an education consultant and writer.

Carl recently worked for Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University as a Lead Staff Developer, providing staff development in the teaching of writing grades K-8. He spent school days in New York City elementary and middle schools demonstrating effective teaching in the writing workshop and coaching teachers. He gave day-long workshops for teachers at Teachers College on launching the writing workshop, conferring with student writers, mini-lessons, and developing curriculum for the writing workshop.

Carl is the author of numerous books including the bestselling How's It Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers, as well as Assessing Writers and the series Strategic Writing Conferences: Smart Conversations that Move Young Writers Forward Grades 3-6.

His latest book, A Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences, is part of the Classroom Essentials series. Full of classroom video, the book helps teachers understand the underlying principles and reasons for conferring with students, and how to make writing conferences a part of teachers' daily routines.

Follow Carl on Twitter @ConferringCarl

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The goal of a writing conference is to teach students something about writing that they can use in the future. If you add to students' writing repertoires in every conference, they become better writers over time.

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3rd Grade Narrative Example

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elizabethbkhoury@gmail.com

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Watch a Small Group Conversation to See Students Tracing a Theme Across and Within Bud, Not Buddy and Tiger Rising (3-5)

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Lucy Calkins and Colleagues at the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project present Watch a Small Group Conversation to See Students Tracing a Theme Across and Within Bud, Not Buddy and Tiger Rising (3-5)

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When I first started teaching reading and writing workshop, the hardest part was that I couldn't picture the classroom, the work. I couldn't see it. This was some of my internal dialogue. I was pretty skeptical. It was only by seeing people like Kathleen Tolan, Carl Andersen, and Mary Ehrenworth do the work of workshop in front of me that I began to become a believer.

As my editorial team and I worked on A Novel Approach, we realized that a set of videos might help. All of these videos-and many more-are available within the book. You will find them called out in special sidebars.
via GIPHY
I want to share a few of them here for anyone to see and use and discuss. They are not perfect - scratch that, I am not perfect. If I could, I would change a bunch so that I look like a perfect teacher, I am full of critique. In making these videos we wanted to capture some specific ideas in workshop teaching and in the book but we also wanted them to feel as authentic as possible with a boom mike and a film crew. So we tried not to cut too much, not to redo, we tried to keep things as real as possible. You will see imperfection. You will see me stumble. You will see some lessons land and some that only begin a journey. But I think there are moments that capture something kind of nice. Like this conference, with Charlotte.

In this conference, Charlotte and I work together to help her take the next step in her interpretation work and while we struggle at first, there is just a lovely moment when Charlotte turns a corner and knocks it out of the park. I think there are moves I make here to help her that you could do too:

This conference is similar - Jalissa and I have a good conversation, and we are able to find some work around language specificity that led her to some interesting places.

Or this mini-lesson in Peg Bruno's 6th grade classroom. It builds off of the work done before, pushing kids to use what they already know and go a bit further. It's pretty short, and pretty clear. I think if you are looking for a mini-lesson that does the parts of a lesson well, and that delivers a strategy clearly and succinctly, this is a good one to use. I also love that we see a boy totally unengaged in the lesson and in the "active engagement." This is what that part of the lesson is for - to look for kids who need some guidance.

Or this Read Aloud in Caine Schekner's classroom. I love here that while the kids don't seem super into the read aloud as like a whole class, when they talk to each other they are thoughtful, engaged, and pretty brilliant. I like that I work here to listen, take what they are doing well, and offer strategies to clarify, complicate, or multiply their thinking.

Each of these videos shows a way of teaching that can help kids access and practice the skills and strategies of a unit of study. I hope that they also show how these methods of teaching, this pedagogy, can help offer opportunities to connect to our students, and allow our goofy, scattered, quiet, or determined personality to come through our teaching. I became passionate about teaching workshop because I saw kids grow and move closer to their dreams, and because the ways I taught when I taught workshop helped me to see my students and truly listen to what they were telling me. I give myself a B/B+ in these videos for those relationship-building goals. But the point, to me, is that these methods of teaching help me to talk less, listen more, and teach rather than tell.

I hope they help you do the same.

♦ ♦ ♦

Thank you to Heinemann's Sherry Day, Michael Grover, Tobey Antao, and Dennis Doyle for the two-day photo shoot, and to Peg Bruno and Caine Schekner for the time with their kids.

KATE ROBERTS is a national literacy consultant, top-selling author, and popular keynote speaker. She taught reading and writing in Brooklyn, NY and worked as a literacy coach before joining the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in 2005, where she worked as a Lead Staff Developer for 11 years. Kate's latest book, A Novel Approach, asks how we can teach whole class novels while still holding onto student centered practices like readers workshop. She is also the co-author of Falling in Love with Close Reading (with Christopher Lehman), DIY Literacy (with Maggie Beattie Roberts), and she co-wrote two Units of Study books on Literary Essay. Her work with students across the country has led to her belief that all kids can be insightful, academic thinkers when the work is demystified, broken down and made engaging. To this end, Kate has worked nationally and internationally to help teachers, schools, and districts develop and implement strong teaching practices and curriculum.

Follow Kate online.
Twitter:
@TeachKate Pinterest: /
Blog: IndentBlog KateAndMaggie.com

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A Peek at A Novel Approach Videos: Mini Lesson, Conferring, and Read Aloud with Kate Roberts

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Here, Kate Roberts shares just a few extended classroom clips from her book, A Novel Approach. In this blog, you'll get a chance to watch Kate confer with two different students, and see how Kate structures a mini-less and read aloud.

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Login - Heinemann | Publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college

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Heinemann is a publisher of professional resources and a provider of educational services for teachers, kindergarten through college.

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Middle & High School: Workshop Instruction and Units of Study with TCRWP | Facebook

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This group is for Middle School & High School teachers who are implementing writing and/or reading workshop as well as thinking about how to use Units of Study in their classrooms. Here, we are…