Conferring With Student Writers
Carl Anderson
NESA Spring Educators Conference 2010
Carl Anderson is a literacy consultant and writer. He is the author of Hows It Going? A
Practical Guide to Conferring With Student Writers (2000), Assessing Writers (2005),
and Strategic Writing Conferences: Smart Conversations that Move Young Writers
Forward Grades 3-6 (2009).
CONFERRING CONCEPTS
A writing conference is a conversation.
The point of a writing conference is to help
students become better writers.
Writing conferences have a predictable structure.
In conferences, teachers and students have
predictable roles.
Its important to communicate to students in
conferences that we care about them as people
and writers.
The Role of the Teacher and Student in a Writing Conference
The Teachers Role
The Students Role
In the first part of the conversation:
Invite the child to set an agenda for the
conference
Set the agenda for the conference by
describing her writing work
Ask assessment questions
Read the students writing
Respond to her teachers research
questions by describing her writing
work more deeply
Make a teaching decision
In the second part of the conversation:
Give the student critical feedback
Listen carefully to her teachers
feedback and teaching
Teach the student
Ask questions to clarify and deepen her
understanding of her teachers feedback
and teaching
Nudge the student to have-a-go
Have-a-go with what her teacher
taught her
Link the conference to the students
independent work
Commit to trying what her teacher
taught her after the conference
(This chart is adapted from my book, Hows It Going? A Practical Guide to
Conferring with Student Writers (2000).)
QUALITIES OF AN EFFECTIVE TEACHING POINT
1. We give clear, precise feedback to the student.
2. We cue the student that were about to start teaching by saying, Theres
something I want to teach you today . . ., or, Something writers do is . . .,
or something similar.
3. We name what were teaching the studente.g. a strategy, a craft move,
a language convention.
4. We give an explanation of what were teachingwhat it is, and why its
important to learn.
5. We explain how writers do what we want the student to learn to doby
describing how to do it, and/or by giving examples from our own writing, or
published texts.
6. We have the student try what weve just taught them, usually by having
them talk out how they could use it. We cue students that we want them to
do a try-it by saying, Id like you to try this out right now . . ., or similar
words.
7. We end the conference by linking the conference to the students work,
and by reminding them that they can use what weve just taught them in
their writing from now on.
TEACHING POINT PLANNING SHEET
1. Name the strategy, craft technique, or language convention youre
going to teach.
2. Give an explanation of the strategy, craft technique, or language
convention. (WHAT)
3. Explain why its important for the student to learn this. (WHY)
4. Explain how writers do this. (HOW)
5. What example could you show the student? What will you say about
this example?
What am I learning about
this student as a writer?
T is the symbol for teaching point.
What do I need to
teach this student?
G is the symbol for instructional goal
Assessment Notes For ________________________ Dates _____________________
COMMON CONFERENCES IN GRADES K-2
If I see this . . .
Ill teach this to the student . . .
The student has trouble coming up with
topics to write about.
1. List of Topics to Write About
2. Map of the Heart/Writing Territories
The student plunges into writing without
rehearsing what shes going to write
3. Talk out the story/topic before writing
4. Sketch part/parts of the story/topic
5. Gather information about the topic
before writing
The student starts writing without
envisioning the parts of her piece.
6. Touch each page of the piece
7. Sketch a picture for each page/write a
key word at the top of each page
8. Make a simple plan for a piece
The student needs to develop fluency in
writing text.
9. Sounding out words/using the alphabet
chart (labeling, simple sentences)
10. Using the word wall/list of high
frequency words
The student writes undeveloped sections in
his pieces.
11. Use picture to generate more text
12. Action, dialogue, thinking (narrative)
13. Facts, definitions, comments
(nonfiction)
14. Similes
The student uses general nouns and verbs
in his writing.
15. Brainstorming a word bank before
drafting.
16. Circling general words, and
brainstorming alternatives.
The student stretches parts of her pieces,
but not the most important ones.
17. Identifying and developing the heart
of a story, or the most important parts
of a nonfiction piece.
The student moves abruptly from one part
to another in a piece.
18. Time transitions (narrative)
19. Subheadings, bullets, topic sentences
(nonfiction)
The student writes all about a topic
20. Zoom in pictures.
21. Choose a small moment to write
about.
22. Focus on a part of an event or topic
that helps get a message across
The student is done as soon as she writes
the last word of a draft.
23. Basic revisionsadding to sketches,
coloring sketches
24. Adding on by looking at the sketches.
25. Adding on by rereading
26. Revision tools: post-its, spiderlegs,
footnotes, arrows, cutting and inserting
more paper
27. Getting feedback from classmates
The student edits by reading her pieces
silently to herself.
28. Self-editing by reading aloud.
29. Peer editing.
30. Using an editing checklist
The student uses endmarks inconsistently,
or not at all.
31. Reading aloud for endmarks.
The student overuses and
32. Where to useand not to useand
The student doesnt capitalize the
beginning of sentences consistently.
33. Touch each period and check that the
next word is capitalized.
The student reads her writing with voice,
but doesnt cue the reader to do the same.
34. Using the exclamation mark, the
ellipsis, and all caps to signal emphasis.
The student doesnt know with whom she
wants to share her writing.
35. Selecting classmates as an audience
36. Selecting people outside of class as an
audience
COMMON CONFERENCES IN GRADES 3-8
If I see this . . .
Ill teach this to the student . . .
The student has trouble coming up with
topics to write about.
1. List of Topics to Write About
2. Map of the Heart/Writing Territories
3. Reread notebook for ideas
The student plunges into writing without
rehearsing what shes going to write
4. Talk out the story/topic before writing
5. Sketch part/parts of the story/topic
6. Write in response to question, What do
I want to say about my topic?
7. Brainstorm sections of piece
8. Gather information about the topic
before writing
The student starts writing without
envisioning the parts of her piece.
9. Write the name of each scene/section on
top of a separate piece of draft paper
10. Make a simple plan for a piece
The student writes undeveloped sections in
his pieces.
11. Action, dialogue, thinking (narrative)
12. Facts, definitions, comments
(nonfiction)
13. Similes
The student uses general nouns and verbs
in his writing.
14. Brainstorming a word bank before
drafting.
15. Circling general words, and
brainstorming alternatives.
The student stretches parts of her pieces,
but not the most important ones.
16. Identifying and developing the heart
of a story, or the most important parts
of a nonfiction piece.
The student moves abruptly from one part
to another in a piece.
17. Time transitions (narrative)
18. Subheadings, bullets, topic sentences
(nonfiction)
The student writes all about a topic
19. Focus on a part(s) of an event or topic
that helps get a meaning across
The student is done as soon as she writes
the last word of a draft.
20. Adding on by rereading
21. Revision tools: post-its, spiderlegs,
footnotes, arrows, cutting and inserting
more paper
22. Getting feedback from classmates
The student edits by reading her pieces
silently to herself.
23. Self-editing by reading aloud.
24. Peer editing.
25. Using an editing checklist
The student uses endmarks inconsistently,
or not at all.
26. Reading aloud for endmarks.
The student overuses and
27. Where to useand not to useand
The student reads her writing with voice,
but doesnt cue the reader to do the same.
28. Using the exclamation mark, the
ellipsis, and all caps to signal
emphasis.
The student doesnt know with whom she
wants to share her writing.
29. Selecting classmates as an audience
30. Selecting people outside of class as an
audience
The student has some trouble writing
independently, without the guidance
provided by a unit of study.
31. List of possible projects
32. Choosing a project (with a specific
audience in mind, for a specific
purpose, to experiment with a genre)
32. Making a plan for developing a seed
topic.
33. Using a mentor text
34. Making a schedule for getting a piece
done.
DECISIONS WE NEED TO MAKE ABOUT OUR CONFERRING
Where should I conduct my conferences?
Carl: I found it works best to confer where students are seated. They are
more at ease there, and other student can either eavesdrop or become
involved in the conferences.
What tools do I need to confer?
Carl: I always carry my record-keeping forms, copies of mentor texts that I
think Ill use in conferences, and a pack of post-it notes.
When should we confer with students?
Carl: I confer with students at whatever point in the writing process they
happen to be in when I pull up next to them to confer. I dont wait for them
to finish a draft before conferring.
Who should initiate conferences?
Carl: I initiate most conferences. Occasionally, I agree to confer with a
child who asks me for a conference.
How long should conferences be?
Carl: My conferences average between five and seven minutes long. I
usually confer with four, sometimes five students during a typical workshop
period.
Finding Carl
My books, Assessing Writers and Hows It
Going? A Practical Guide to Conferring with
Student Writers, are available through
Heinemann. (www.heinemann.com). My new
Heinemann firsthand series, Strategic Writing
Conferences: Smart Conversations that Move
Young Writers Forward Grades 3-6, is now
available.
(www.strategicwritingconferences.com)
If you have any questions about the workshop,
please feel free to email me:
carlanderson1@mac.com
Check out my website, too:
www.conferringguy.com
