What is a Writing Conference?

Hold Writing Conferences with individual students to enhance learning in the classroom. This on-on-one strategy will improve every student’s writing skills.

What are Writing Conferences?

A Writing Conference is a one-on-one direct strategy, designed to guide and assist students through the process of writing. The primary purpose of writing conferences is to help unlock the potential of students as “writers” and to help them understand and realize their potential. Using individualized teaching, introspective questioning, and clear instructions for improvement students will gain a better understanding of the process of writing. The provision of prompt feedback and suggestions during the act of writing helps students to take a closer look at their work and improve it.

Benefits of Writing Conferences

According to Donald Graves who is considered to be the father of the ‘Process to Writing Approach’, the primary purpose of a Writing Conference is to “help children teach you about what they know so that you can help them more effectively with their writing.”* In short, using Writing Conferences will help students become independent writers.

Benefits of the Writing Conference strategy:

• It provides immediate feedback
• It creates a positive attitude among students towards writing and motivates them to improve their work
• It structures the teaching process around the student’s skill level and understanding
• It addresses and improves writing skills including the process of writing

How does it work?

A good writer constantly questions his/her work in order to become better. They analyze their writings with a critical eye, trying to find ways to make it more meaningful and to better engage their audience. Similarly, our students need to be encouraged and stimulated to improve their writing abilities. To do so, we need to help them, like good writers, be critical of their work.

Using Writing Conferences, teachers can guide or model the pattern of introspective questioning, which will stimulate students to reflect on their writings. For example, questions like “What can you include to make it better?”“What extra information should be included to give clarity to the content?” and“How else can you make this story better for the readers?” These questions will help students to take a closer look at their writings to identify and correct mistakes and to generally improve their way of writing and thinking.

When to use Writing Conferences?

The strategy can be incorporated in the classroom when all students are able to independently engage in writing activities. A brief (3-5 minute),one-on-one interaction can be conducted during a group writing session as long as it is done in a way where it will not disturb others. Typically it is best to have the class work independently at their desks while the teacher calls one student at a time to their desk for a conference.

As the conferences are held during various phases of writing, the skills and the phases required for writing can be worked on, along with the application of various writing strategies and tips.

How to conduct a Writing Conference?

The first step is to introduce the entire class to new concepts or next phases during writing workshops. Then, the classroom can be divided into specific writing centers with a list of writing activities; for example research, outline, first draft, final draft etc. Students are instructed to continue with their work during the session and to wait their turn for a conference with the teacher. They are not to interrupt another conference unless it is an emergency.

During the workshops, teachers can model new strategies by analyzing their own work, using the “think aloud strategy.” In doing so, teachers can both familiarize and empower students with the mode of questioning, enabling them to critically appraise their own work.

Using a conversational style in each conference, the teacher can gain insight into the student’s thought process. It will also help the teacher decide where the student should advance to in terms of his/her writing. It is important to note that questions should be tailor made, as each student is different.

The information gathered in the conferences and an overall understanding of the abilities of the student will help direct the comments and feedback. Typically, the feedback should be positive, short, simple and specific and help facilitate the student to enter the next phase of writing.

Tips for starters:

It is best to keep conferences short (3-5 minutes), simple and specific.

Also, remember to give positive and specific feedback. Students find it easier to work with specific directions like a strategy or a tip. A record of the conference is to be maintained for each student. One can take note of the skills or phases addressed, tips and ideas suggested and the outcome of the conference in these records. A checklist can also be maintained to ensure that a conference has been conducted with every student and that a uniform set of topics has been addressed with each.

Characteristics of successful Writing Conferences

As identified by Donald Graves a writing conference is successful when it has the following*:

• A specific structure
• Focuses on a specific set of points
• Identifies and models solutions to the students’ problems
• Encourages the exploration and application of vocabulary suited for the writing
• Helps students find joy in writing

Writing Conferences are a great tool to help every student with their writing. Taking the time to meet each student and provide individualized teaching will help the class as a whole, as all students will advance and learn at a greater level.

* “Writing Conferences.” Teacher Vision. N.p., n.d. Web.

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