Conferences

 

Why Conferences

 

          A writer comes to me in the writing conference vulnerable, exposed and self-conscious.  What do I do?  How do I

 

react to those ideas, that writer, those marks on their paper? Conferences are the essential act, most critical event, and

 

valuable element of Writer’s Workshop in the classroom (Meyers, 2002; Nickel, 2001; Sperling, 1992). It is these

 

extraordinary acts that ask me to pay attention, that ask me to see ordinary conversations as critical events in the

 

business of learning to write (Sperling, 1992).  A conference is a conversation between two (or more) devoted to

 

deeper thinking and their relationships with one another.  It is at the heart of teaching writing and is the core of the

 

Writer’s Workshop.  It is an opportunity to coach and nurture my student as a writer and the student being understood

 

in thewriting process which is an essential form of feedback all readers and writers look forward to each day. 

 

Conferences can become one of the most productive aspects of a writing workshop.  It is a time for me to encourage

 

students to take risks in their writing (Myers & Pough, 2002).  I use the word conversation because even though in a

 

conference I am a teacher talking with students, I am also a writer talking to writers.  There are other implications to

 

using the word conversation to describe conferences besides suggesting the tone of our interactions with students and

 

my relationship to them. These implications, predictable structure; focusing on a few points; demonstrating solutions to

 

problems; permit role reversals; encourage use of vocabulary and pleasure in writing are other characteristics of a

 

conference. 

 

Characteristics

 

          Conferences, like many conversations, have characteristics.  Conferences should have a predictable structure;

 

focus on a few points; demonstrate solutions to students’ problems; permit role reversals; encourage use of a

 

vocabulary appropriate for writing; and stimulate pleasure in writing (Graves, 1982).  They have a point to them

 

and have a predictable structure.   As a teacher I pursue lines of thinking with students and I show students I care

 

about them (Anderson, 2000).  Conferences are a time to respond in writing.   We assess students’ needs, determine

 

strategies students use, gather ideas for mini-lessons and help students set goals (Taylor & Nesheim, 2001). Perhaps

 

the most important goals of a writing conference are to create independent writers.  Writers are constantly asking

 

themselves questions.  In order for young writers to learn to ask such questions of themselves, teachers and peers

 

need to ask them of young writers. 

 

          Teacher-students and peer conferences are at the heart of teaching writing.  Through them students learn

 

to interact with their own writing (Calkins, 1994).  Conferences provide me with an opportunity to offer students

 

individualized writing instruction in the context of their own writing projects. The act of writing we have in common

 

with students puts us on a level with our students and them on a level with us (Murray, 1983).  In order to understand

 

what makes conferences valuable, I also have to be willing to acknowledge the occasions when they are unsuccessful

 

and find ways to address those tensions (Nickel, 2001). 

 

          Whether conferences occur in pairs, with small groups or with the teacher, the social benefits of sharing writing

 

improve the writer.  In the writing workshop model, conferencing is the primary vehicle for this individualized

 

instruction.  I must make sure at the end of every conference, I leave my students with a clear vision for how they

 

might use what I’ve taught them long after I’m gone.