Salch & Marino Article

I like how at the beginning of this article the author talks about how conferring is not an easy thing to master. She says, “no one every feels like ‘I am great at this!’” Even though there are scripts to follow and books to read, at any time a writer could completely throw you off your loop and present you with a situation where you don’t know how to handle it. The three teachers in this article all point out different things but have the main issue of, conferring is as much about being a good listener as it is about knowing what to say. The first teacher talks about how even though writing conferences are hard, they are a very important part of writing and should not be forgot about. The second teacher talks about conferring really being about conversation and how it can impact the students writing. And the third teacher talks about three principles to consider. All three of these teachers give good insight into how to be a better confer.

I would and do you this approach in my CT’s classroom. Conferring is a big part of the writing workshop in first grade at my school. Every day during writing time my CT and I are walking around conferring with students about their pieces. I think this gives a good enriching instruction because you are able to work one on one with a student and show that you care about what they are writing about. In first grade most of the students are excited to write and excited to share with you what they are writing about. From what I can tell it means a lot to my students when I get face to face with them and talk about their piece. They are very eager to know how to spell things, and how to expand their pieces. They are very proud of the work they put in them. I think conferring with students is a good way to make writing more personal for students and make them feel proud of the work they are accomplishing.

I have a lot of practice to do in order to become a better conferer. I think the most important thing to get better is just to practice. If you jump in there and interact with students you are going to become more familiar with how to respond to kids and what to say. I would like to become more aware of different techniques to help students who are struggling and give them ideas to help them want to write more. And like the article says, conferring is not an easy task for a teacher. I think in order to be successful you have to remind yourself that it is not going to go perfect every time, but you will learn from mistakes and as long as you are impacting the child in someway that is an accomplishment. In general I would just say getting to know your students will help you become better at conferring and will help you know how to react to certain kids and their writing.

The ideas in this module will help me to think about assessment for planning my unit and giving me ideas because there are so many to pick from. I think it is going to be important for me to pick different assessment techniques because in first grade students can be unpredictable. You might plan one assessment and it might not generate the type of response you want, so you will have to try it again. I got a lot from reading all of the articles and getting all of the ideas but I think in first grade it is important to remember patience and in first grade they are not going to be able to do some of the things that for example a third or fourth grader can do. I think it is important to pick the things you find most valuable and make it age appropriate.