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Conferences Grouped by Key Topic
In the primary writing workshop, certain topics arise frequently in our conferring. Here you will find some of the most common topics, and five conferences that address each one. If you'd like to learn more about any of these topics, you'll find many more conferences in the collection that can guide your study equally well.
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Drawing
Drawing is often the first step toward communicating in writing. By studying these conferences you will learn how we help children understand that writing is about communicating their stories and ideas and that drawing is one way to start doing that. If you look at the conferences in this section, you will notice that the teaching of drawing does not stop there; we also teach students how drawings can help one remember what to say and what to write.
| CR-4 |
But How Did You Get There, Shiwan?! |
| WR-1 |
Can You Tell a Story and Show It on the Paper? |
| LW-6 |
What's the Story in This Picture, Victoria? |
| SM-8 |
Will You Touch Each Page and Say What You'll Write? |
| SM-9 |
Writers Make Time to Write Words. |
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Adding Detail to Writing or Drawing
We have selected several conferences in which children are being taught to add detail to their drawings and their writing. Notice how the teaching we do with children's drawings can prepare them for the teaching we'll offer when they begin writing words. Notice that the teacher uses the same language when talking about detail in children's drawings as when talking about detail in children's writing. Notice the ways using a different teaching method changes a conference; this knowledge can help you vary your teaching methods to meet your students' needs.
| CR-2 |
Are You Doing Revision Work That Makes Important Changes? |
| SM-4 |
Can You Reenact That Part in a Way That Shows Me Exactly What Happened? |
| PO-7 |
What Is the Most Important Feeling in Your Poem, Maddie? |
| LW-4 |
What's the Story in This Picture, Nicholas? |
| LW-9 |
Why Don't You Write a Sign for the Block Area? |
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Writing for an Audience
At the very beginning of their writing lives, children often don't know that writing can mean inventing or recollecting a story with a beginning, middle, and end that is to be presented to real people in the world. Many content conferences support students in learning this. Notice how the teacher helps the student recognize a story as one worth telling and then helps the student put the story on paper in a way that is understandable for readers.
| SM-1 |
As a Reader, I'd Love to Hear More About That Sophie. |
| SM-3 |
Can I Show You How to Write What Happened First, Then Next, Talia? |
| LW-3 |
What's the Story in This Picture, Bryanna? |
| LW-5 |
What's the Story in This Picture, Song Lee? |
| LW-7 |
Where Is Your Writing, Aja? |
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Focus
Writers of all ages need to be taught how to focus on the important parts of their pieces of writing. Young writers, in particular, often need help determining what the important part of a story is and how to make it feel that way to the reader. When studying these conferences, you will want to notice the different methods the teacher uses first to help the student identify the important parts of the writing (as well as, sometimes, the less important parts) and then to help the student figure out how to alter what has been written in order to make the important parts feel important.
| PO-4 |
Can You Think of One Moment That Holds the Big Feeling the Ocean Gives You? |
| WR-10 |
What Is the Most Important Part of Your Story, Justin? |
| AM-7 |
What Is the Most Important Part of Your Story, Marley? |
| SM-7 |
What Is the Most Important Part of Your Story, Shariff? |
| LW-2 |
What's Happening in Your Piece? |
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Working with Partners
We have included a few partnership conferences. Usually the conference involves two students working together to help make each other's writing better. Studying these will help you think about how to teach more than one student at a time and how to teach students to use each other as resources and supports. Notice the balance between participation and practice. Notice whom the teacher addresses and how. The variety of strategies taught to the students may help you imagine different ways of using partnerships in your class.
| AM-2 |
Are You Sure You Are Done Writing? |
| PO-2 |
Can I Help You Come Up With Ideas? |
| WR-4 |
I Don't Want to Write the Words the Wrong Way. |
| NF-3 |
Make a Mental Movie of Yourself Following Your Directions to See if They're Clear. |
| LW-10 |
Writers Share Community Supplies. |
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Spelling
When teaching very emergent writers, spelling conferences need to focus specifically on hearing the sounds in words, isolating them, determining which letter makes that sound, and then recording that letter on paper. Many conferences at the beginning of kindergarten focus on "writing down the sounds you hear." As children develop as writers, spelling conferences focus on "hearing more sounds" or "hearing the middle vowels." Others focus on leaving white space between words or using spelling patterns that the class has studied in order to spell a word. Use the examples of these conferences to learn how to support children's growth in spelling. Also study how using different teaching methods alters the conferences; you'll need different methods to meet the needs of different students.
| PO-1 |
Are Those the Sounds You Hear? |
| SM-5 |
Let Me Help You Put Some Words Down, Liam. |
| WR-7 |
Let me Help You Put Some Words Down, Sidney. |
| LW-1 |
Let Me Show You How to Write More. |
| WR-9 |
Say and Record a Word, Then Reread. |
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Monitoring for Sense
We have selected several conferences in which students are being taught to monitor their writing for sense as they write. These conferences are important to study because they teach a process-rereading our writing and asking, Does this make sense?—-that occurs internally. Studying these conferences will show you how we support students in making this process automatic. Also notice how the teacher turns the work of monitoring over to the student.
| CR-3 |
As a Reader, I'd Love to Hear More About That, Omid. |
| WR-5 |
If You Erase That Word and Scoot It Over, It Will Be Easier to Read. |
| WR-8 |
Reread as You Write, Noticing White Spaces and Spelling. |
| CR-9 |
This Part Is Confusing to Me, Alexa. |
| NF-7 |
Which Part Goes Where? |
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Using Literature
While using examples from literature is crucial within the Authors as Mentors unit, it is also important to remember this valuable tool at other times throughout the year. It takes a bit of preparation to use literature in conferences, because you need to have examples on hand as you confer. To become more comfortable using literature as you confer, make a list of teaching points that you'll soon need to make in your class, and then collect some texts that might be useful in teaching them. Use our examples of these conferences to help you!
| AM-4 |
Can We Study What This Author Did and Let Her Teach Us Some Lessons? |
| CR-8 |
Study An Example To Get Ideas For Revision. |
| AM-5 |
Use A Refrain. |
| AM-8 |
What Else Could You Try That Mem Fox Does? |
| AM-6 |
You Can Use Ellipses to Show Waiting. |
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Using Language Purposefully
There are many different aspects of crafting writing that we hope to teach young writers. The idea that there are many ways to put words together to get ideas across and that writers get to make decisions about exactly how they want to do this is a new one for beginning writers. As you study these conferences, notice the different levels of sophistication we aim to help our students achieve as well as the different methods of teaching we use.
| AM-1 |
Are You Stuck? |
| CR-6 |
Let's Look at Your Lead and Your Ending. |
| PO-5 |
What Does the Rain Remind You Of? |
| PO-6 |
What Is the Most Important Feeling in Your Poem, Klara? |
| NF-6 |
Where Is Your Author's Voice? |
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