Tips on Conferencing
"[Conference talk is] an art-chiefly the art of drawing forth ideas and fostering thinking, by asking questions"
- Muriel Harris, Teaching One-to-One, 10
Conferencing can be an anxious time for you and your students the first few times you meet, but you'll soon find that working one-on-one with your students is one of the best ways to teach writing. Conferencing, though, is an art, one you will continue to develop each time you teach. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind, all based on Muriel Harris' well-known text, Teaching One-to-One: The Writing Conference (NCTE, 1986).
Goals of a conference
- helping writers become independent
- place the responsibility for analyzing and evaluating writing with the student by asking problem-posing questions (see Harris 29)
- avoid "acting" or taking over the conference, overly directing students in what to do/not do
- be directive when a writer and his/her essay is at a stage where the comments/suggestions will still allow the student to have responsibility for the essay
- motivating writers
- discuss strengths of student's writing
- offer encouragement and reinforcement
- demonstrate that you care about what the student is saying (or might say)
- attending to writer's concerns
- ask students about their concerns about their drafts, allowing them to direct the conference agenda
- balance their concerns with your own and what you believe they need to focus on (e.g., redirect questions about what exactly needs to be in the essay)
Role/Responsibility of teacher
- Listening and setting aside our agendas temporarily
- paraphrasing what students are saying
- perception checking-making sure you and your student perceive the same things
- leading the student through both direct ("Give me an example of") and indirect ("Tell me more about") comments
- interpreting what the student has written
- hear what the student isn't saying:
- fear of inadequacy
- inability to articulate problem
- mistaken notions of what teachers want
- lack of interest in writing
- lack of familiarity with writing processes
Questioning
- phrase questions to invite student into the draft, be open-ended, and facilitate real inquiry
- avoid closed, rhetorical, leading, and "probe and prompt" type questions
- try to undermine the students' beliefs that the teacher has the answers and make the student responsible for answers
- Observing-watching what a student does as she talks, drafts, etc.
Showing: modeling certain techniques (see p 67 for qualities of good modeling)
Telling: sometimes telling the student a principle or suggesting a strategy can be the most effective, depending on the stage of the writing and the student's abilities and confidence level