Conferring – moving writers

October 4, 2021October 3, 2021mrfitzfinkle

Big Picture/Closeup: a model for reading and writing

Closeup elements are how the story is told. Big Picture elements are the story itself.

September 1, 2021October 5, 2021Aishwarya M

The Emotional Underlife of Writing

Through all the unprecedented changes the pandemic has brought into our classrooms, something that hasn’t changed and is highly unlikely to change is, how, despite seemingly perfect external conditions, the inner condition of the writer affects their writing.

May 7, 2021May 6, 2021Shawna Easton

Using Writing as a Means of Mastery Assessment

When was the last time you took a multiple-choice test? For me, the last time I took a multiple choice test to demonstrate mastery was during our beginning of the year compliance training courses (you know, those courses we have to take every year). Here is the real question though: Did it show my mastery […]

April 9, 2021April 8, 2021Michael Ziegler

What Happens to Feedback When Conferring Gets Organized

Providing feedback that builds on conferring conversations can be a game changer…if you start keeping track of your conversations with writers!

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021Aishwarya M

Redefining Productivity for ELLs in the Writing Workshop

I kept trying to get better at giving students more independent writing time and ensure I conferred with every student every day. Yet, my ELLs continued to struggle in both their language proficiency and productivity. They wrote the least number of pieces every year.

March 16, 2021April 17, 2021Kristin Bond

Talking to Teachers: Finding Time to ‘Write Beside Them’ and Confer (in an IB Classroom) (during a pandemic)

This is a follow-up conversation with Matt Foss, the IB Language and Literature teacher from the American Community School of Abu Dhabi. I spoke with Matt in a previous post where he focused on three main topics: (1) writing beside his students, (2) how remote learning has shifted how he confers, and (3) his goal […]

March 12, 2021March 13, 2021Michael Ziegler

Turning the Page on Writing Conferences…with Reading Conferences

Some thoughts on why I always establish reading conferring in order to prepare students to confer about writing.

March 11, 2021March 12, 2021hattiemaguire

Conferring With Writers Who Don’t Know They’re Writers

I have not always identified as a writer. As a child, I was an aspiring writer for sure–I was going to be the next Ann M. Martin….but make it historical. Maybe Babysitters in Bonnets? I’ll admit it needed workshopping. Somewhere in high school, though, I shifted and I became an incredibly efficient student of writing–not […]

March 8, 2021March 7, 2021Starian Porchia

An Open Letter to Teachers (and those who love them)

Dear (overly tested subject) teacher, How are you? February in Texas was a rough ride. And, I’ve been thinking about how to support you. I’ve been thinking about the most meaningful thing to write about this month every day to add to the writing resources and ideas for supporting teachers of writing and writers themselves. […]

March 3, 2021March 4, 2021Aishwarya M

5 Ways in which Writing Conferences must Differ for ELLs

As I endeavored to practice what I learned, I found that conferences with a few of my students were more difficult than the most difficult examples in the books. I was stumped by blank stares and students who said, “I don’t understand what you’re saying,” or “Ok, but what should I do now?”