9LEADING THE CALL ■ anderson

When I taught middle school, from 1986 to 1994, it was a heady, revolutionary

time for ELA teachers. Inspired by the work of Donald Graves, Lucy Calkins, Nancie Atwell, and Linda Rief, teachers were reimagining writing instruction in profound and creative ways. But while it was exciting to be teaching during this time, I was lonely. In the schools in which I taught, I was either the only ELA teacher—or one of a handful of ELA teachers—with a writing workshop in my classroom. Even broaching the subject of writing workshop could be contentious with my colleagues.

Fast forward over the next twenty-five years, which I’ve spent as a staff developer in middle schools all over the world, and writing instruction has changed in remarkable ways. Although time, as always, remains a big issue in middle school, many teachers now devote a significant amount of it to teaching writing. The “secret” is out—students will grow as writers if they have time to write. No longer is writing workshop embraced by just one or two passionate teachers in a school. In many schools, writing workshop is now the way middle school ELA teachers teach writing in every grade. Many middle schools now have well-developed writing curricula, with teachers designing units of study or teaching units created by their district curriculum leaders or outside staff development organizations. Even content area teachers are getting into the act, using workshop structures in their classrooms.

With all of this progress in the teaching of writing, what’s next for middle school writing instruction? The most pressing need for ELA teachers is to raise the level of their conferring skills. When I work in middle schools, this is the aspect of teaching

writing that school leaders and teachers ask me to help them with most often. There is growing recognition that, while devoting time to teaching writing and adopting a writing curriculum are necessary steps, helping middle school students grow and thrive as writers ultimately depends on the quality of the writing conferences teachers have with students every day. Why? Because conferring is ultimately where we do our most important teaching.

What have these educators realized about conferring that inspires them to put it at the top of their professional development agenda? Why should we, as a field, invest the time and effort it will take to help all ELA teachers become good at this instructional practice? There are several reasons.

Conferring Helps Us Build Relationships with Students

Writing conferences help students become better writers. Or, as Lucy Calkins (1994) writes, in conferences “we are teaching the writer and not the writing.” Conferences also nourish individual relationships between teachers and students, in a way that mini-lessons and small-group work cannot. These relationships are not just the by-product of conferring—they’re one of its most important goals. Strong teacher-student relationships are central to students’ growth as writers, as well as their sense that they are in a supportive learning environment. As Doug Kaufman observes in his book Conferences and Conversations (2000), “More often than not, interpersonal relationships have a profound effect on the student’s motivation and work.” (32).

Why are these relationships so important? First, in conferences, students

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become known to us as people, writers, and learners. As we come to know each child, we shape and adjust our teaching based upon what we’ve learned about them. This knowledge encompasses much more than what we learn about them as writers. It also includes what we learn about their interests, their personalities, where they come from in their lives and how that has shaped them, and their attitudes toward teachers and school.

Students also learn a lot about us in conferences. Through conferring, we become known to our students. Getting to know us helps students be more comfortable and open to learning. When they see us approaching their workspace for a conference, they are less likely to be anxious about it, even though they know that they’re going to be asked to do some heavy lifting as writers. That’s because they’ve learned we care about them as people and learners, that we’re safe to talk to and have empathy for what they’re going through at this challenging time in their lives. They know we’re trying to understand who they are and where they’re coming from. And they know we’re intensely interested in them as writers. In Teaching Middle School Writers (2010), Laura Robb points out, “In the moment of conferring, students know they matter to you, and they sense your respect and admiration; you are helping them define who they are in the world of school and beyond” (67).

Thus, the question that Don Murray (1985) suggests we ask at the beginning of each conference—“How’s it going?”—does more than invite students to talk about what they’re doing as writers. As the school year begins, this question initiates our relationships with students, and in subsequent conferences it deepens them. The impact of these relationships reverberates in many other positive ways in a class. In his book, Visible Learning (2009), John Hattie explains, “In classes with person-centered teachers [italics added], there is more engagement, more respect of self and others, there are fewer resistant behaviors, there is greater non-directivity (student-initiated and student-regulated activities), and there are higher achievement outcomes” (14).

Conferring Is Differentiated Instruction

Middle school teachers often share with me their frustrations in teaching students with diverse writing skills. Said one sixth grade teacher, “I teach in an inclusion classroom, and on top of that, the kids are a

mixture of emergent bilinguals (who speak twelve different languages at home) and native English speakers. And I’m expected to teach all of them not just how to write, but how to write well enough to meet my state’s writing standards!”

It is indeed daunting to consider how many ways students can differ from each other as writers. They have different attitudes about writing and are motivated to write for different reasons. They have varied preferences

in the genres of writing they’re studying. They have different writing experiences, and their knowledge of writing craft and conventions is varied, too. Some aren’t yet fluent in written English. Some need different accommodations for their learning styles. Finally, they have differing attitudes about trying something new and different frustration levels. The answer to how we can possibly meet the needs of students who differ in so many ways is clear: Confer with them!

Unlike mini-lessons and small-group lessons, we begin writing conferences by asking, “How’s it going?” In response, students tell us about what they’re doing as writers (writing leads, elaborating, revising by adding on, editing for spelling, etc.) and how they’re doing with that work; they also show us their writing. This student-to-teacher feedback reveals much about how the student is doing as a writer. As John Hattie notes in Visible Learning (2009), “Feedback to teachers helps make learning visible” (78).

In response, we teach students a writing strategy, a craft technique, or a point of grammar or mechanics that’s tailored to their individual needs. So, conferring, by definition, is differentiated instruction. That’s the key reason why it’s the very best teaching method for meeting students’ diverse needs as writers. Explains Laura Robb (2010), “This one-on-one work moves a student’s writing forward beautifully because it’s custom tailored to who the student is as a learner and as a person” (63).

In Writing Conferences, Students Learn to Make Good Choices

Since Don Graves wrote Writing: Teachers and Children at Work (1983), a bedrock principle of writing instruction has been choice. In a writing workshop, we give students the opportunity to make the kinds of choices that more experienced writers make, including

n What topics to write about

Writing conferences help students become better

writers. . . . in conferences, students become known to us as people, writers,

and learners. . . . Through conferring, we become known to our students.

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11LEADING THE CALL ■ anderson

n The purpose for their writing and the genre that best fulfills that purpose

n What meaning to get across about the topic they’ve chosen

n Which strategies they’ll use to navigate each stage of the writing process

n The ways in which they craft their writing

n The revisions they’ll make

n The audience for their writing and how to write drafts with that audience in mind

But just because we give students the opportunity to make these choices doesn’t mean they automatically know how to make good ones. When and how will students learn to do this?

Part of the answer is in our mini-lessons, where we teach students about the kinds of choices writers make. For example, in mini-lessons we show students mentor texts, point out craft techniques the authors used, and discuss why we think they used them. Or we do writing demonstrations and show students in real time how we make choices as we write, such as where in a text we decide to revise, what kinds of revisions we might make, and why.

But it’s only in writing conferences that we can provide the one-on-one coaching that students need in order to learn to make good choices, and to realize those choices successfully.

In some conferences, we discover that students could have made better choices. For example, a seventh grader is writing about a topic because she thinks it’s one that will please her teacher, instead of writing about a topic that she’s truly invested in. In this kind of conference, we teach her a strategy for choosing topics that genuinely appeal to her.

In other conferences, we discover that students haven’t made the choices an experienced writer would make at the same stage of the writing process. For example, it’s not uncommon to confer with students who say they’re “done,” even though they’ve made no revisions. In this case, our job is to teach students how to make some new choices, such as how to revise by adding details to a draft.

Of course, there are conferences in which we learn that students have made good choices, but aren’t sure how to realize them successfully. Helping students carry

through with their choices becomes the focus of these conferences.

Conferences Inform Whole-Class Instruction

Writing teachers today have access to an abundance of curricular materials. Teachers can easily acquire excellent units of study for many genres (Calkins, 2014; Robb, 2012). While these units are wonderful starting places for teachers new to teaching writing or to teaching a particular unit, they present a dilemma for more experienced teachers. No matter how knowledgeable, curricular unit authors cannot predict the mix of learners in the classrooms where their units are used. Hence, they cannot design units that meet all students’ needs. This is particularly important to note when working with middle school learners, who often respond better to curricula that take their needs and interests into consideration. Cornelius Minor writes in We Got This (2018), “To really move kids, there has to be some act of continual understanding. There has to be evidence that the teacher is learning from the students too” (8).

Consequently, teachers have to revise units in response to the particular needs and interests of the children in their class. Matt Glover and Mary Alice Berry, in their book on designing units of study, Projecting Possibilities for Writers (2012), explain, “As you teach the unit, you will make decisions that will alter the path of your teaching. You might decide to add a

minilesson topic or take one out. You might decide to spend more or less time on a topic. You might decide to teach a lesson earlier or later than you had anticipated” (57).

How do teachers make these kinds of decisions? While there are many methods teachers can use to learn about the writers in their classrooms—having students write “on demand”

pieces before a unit begins or reading students’ writer’s notebooks or drafts during the unit—writing conferences give us some of the best real-time information about how students are learning. Such information helps teachers make course corrections mid-unit. Also, writing conferences give teachers time to assess students, giving them information they need not only to teach individual students in conferences, but also, in aggregate, to decide how to shape the unit of study.

In his book Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking (2005), Malcolm Gladwell discusses the concept of “thin-slicing”—that is, how we make good decisions

The answer to how we can possibly meet the needs of students who differ in so

many ways is clear: Confer with them!

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from considering a sampling of data points, instead of every possible one. By conferring with several students a day in a writing workshop, teachers are able to “thin-slice” their class and use what they learn from those conferences to decide how to revise their units.

Think of conferences as being at the center of the writing workshop “ecosystem.” What we learn in conferences about what students are doing as writers, and how well they’re doing it, impacts the direction of our units of study. What we learn changes what mini-lessons we teach—and the order in which we teach them. We revise the curriculum directly in response to what we learn about students during our conferences. Conferring, then, makes an essential contribution to students feeling that the curriculum reflects who they are as writers and to our teaching actually meeting their needs.

Conducting a Writing Conference

For those readers who are new to conferring with students, here are some of the basics of leading effective writing conferences.

First, think about conferring logistics. Confer with students at their seats, where middle school students often feel more at ease. Try to keep conferences from 5 to 7 minutes so that you can see four students during the independent writing part of writing workshop. Confer with students when they’re in the process of writing a piece, instead of after they’re finished, as students will be more open to feedback and teaching when they’re writing.

Second, become familiar with the three parts of a writing conference. Start by discovering what a child is doing as a writer. Ask an open-ended question to begin the conference—“How’s it going?”—then give some time for the student to respond (10–15 seconds). Hopefully, the student will respond by telling you about where she is in the writing process and what kind of work she’s doing—planning, crafting a lead, editing for spelling—and you’ll have a focus for the conference. If the student doesn’t tell you, look at her draft to find out what she’s doing.

Next, assess how well the student is doing her writing work and decide what to teach. Looking over the student’s work will help you to see what she needs to learn about the kind of work she’s doing.

Finally, teach the student. Start giving the student feedback by naming what she already understands about

the kind of writing work she’s doing, and then discuss the next step you want her to take to do that work even better. Then, if you’re teaching a craft technique, show her a mentor text in which the author uses that craft. If you’re teaching a writing strategy, demonstrate how you use that strategy in your own writing. Next, have her try what you taught by talking out what she might write while you coach her. End the conference by letting her

know you expect her to try what you taught as soon as the conference is over and tell her you’ll check back in with her after your next conference.

Tips for Helping Students Work Independently So You Can Confer

During conferring time, the rest of the class should be working independently. In order for this to work smoothly, teachers should be sure students are prepared. Give several mini-lessons early in the year, spelling out exactly what students are expected to do during independent writing time. Point out where writing supplies and tools are located, and describe how students can access them. Establish procedures so students can go to the bathroom without having to get permission from you. Teach strategies for getting started with writing each day. Explain what to do when a draft is completed and have students use revision and editing checklists to help them revise and edit on their own. Teach students how to have peer conferences, look at mentor texts, or read charts that summarize recent mini-lessons when they need help. Ask them to make plans for independent writing time. They can “turn and talk” to a classmate and discuss their writing plans at the end of mini-lessons or jot down their plans in their writer’s notebooks.

Between conferences, do a quick walk around the room so you can redirect any students who have become distracted. If your class is getting noisy, ask students to stop writing so you can report on what you just taught in a conference and suggest that students try it themselves. This is a positive way of refocusing your class, and there are others.

How Do We Improve Our Conferring?

Teachers who are new to conferring can learn the basics by reading several of the excellent books written on writing conferences or books that that have several

It’s only in writing conferences that we can provide the one-on-one coaching that students

need in order to learn to make good choices, and to realize those choices

successfully.

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13LEADING THE CALL ■ anderson

chapters devoted to the topic. Ideally, they will read with colleagues in a study group. While some books come with video of middle school writing conferences, teachers can also watch stand-alone DVDs about conferring. When possible, teachers should observe more experienced teachers or literacy coaches conferring with students. Finally, teachers need feedback about their conferring, which they can get from their literacy coaches or principals. More experienced teachers can improve their conferring by engaging in professional conversations with their colleagues. They can visit each other’s classrooms and give and receive feedback. Outside of the classroom, teachers can also share videos or transcripts of conferences with colleagues and discuss them.

While these methods are effective, they work best when schools have made a collective decision to make conferring a priority and teachers share a mission to improve their writing conferences. Such journeys help teachers feel more and more comfortable with conferring, and their writing conferences become more and more effective. Most important, their students then receive the kind of one-on-one support they need to spread their wings as writers and soar.

references

Calkins, L. (1994). The art of teaching writing (New Ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Calkins, L. (2014). Units of study in opinion, information, and narrative writing, middle school series bundle, grades 6–8. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Gladwell, M. (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. New York, NY: Little, Brown.

Glover, M., & Berry, M. A. (2012). Projecting possibilities for writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Graves, D. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning. New York, NY: Routledge.

Kaufman, D. (2000). Conferences and conversations. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Minor, C. (2018). We got this. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Murray, D. (1985). A writer teaches writing. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Robb, L. (2010). Teaching middle school writers: What every English teacher needs to know. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Robb, L. (2012). Practical units for teaching middle school writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Conferring resources

Anderson, C. (2000). How’s it going? A practical guide to conferring with student writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Anderson, C. (2005). Assessing writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Anderson, C. (2009). Strategic writing conferences. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann firstHand.

Anderson, C. (2018). A teacher’s guide to writing conferences. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Atwell, N. (2010). Writing in the middle. [DVD]. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Atwell, N. (2014). In the middle, third edition: a lifetime of learning about writing, reading, and adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Bomer, K. (2011). Starting with what students do best. [DVD]. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Kaufman, D. (2000). Conferences and conversations. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Robb, L. (2010). Teaching middle school writers: What every English teacher needs to know. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

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