Writing Conferences

I liked the way Routman shows how her writing conferences follow the optimal learning model (Writing Essentials, Ch. 9). She starts by modeling during a whole-class share how to listen and respond to a writing piece. This is the first step in teaching kids both how to conference with themselves “in their minds” as they revise their work and how to peer conference. I had not thought about conferences in this way before. I have seen my master teacher do whole group share at the end of writing time and she always finds something good to point out in a student’s writing. Now I see how this modeling helps all the students, not just the one sharing. It will help students do a better job at starting with a positive comment when giving peer feedback, and also show them things other good writers are doing that they might want to use in their own work.

Routman also laid out the different levels of writing conferences. I thought a writing conference was a formal one-on-one meeting, but now I see how everything from whole-class shares to roving feedback to peer conferences can fit into a writing program. I also see there are two purposes of writing conferences and these require separate meetings at different points in the writing process and focus on different traits. The content conference focuses on ideas, organization, voice, word choice, and sentence fluency (although you should only pick one or two things to focus on so you don’t overwhelm the writer). This conference is intended to move the writer forward with his or her piece and happens during revision. It is not until the end, during the editing conference, that conventions come in. This is when you want the student to get the piece ready for publishing. I liked how Routman stresses to students that in order to be respectful of your audience, your piece needs to be mechanically correct, so they can focus on your message not your mistakes.