Writing Conferences Jane C 2006

Slide 1: Inquiry Project Summary Jane C. Question: How can I more effectively teach students how to apply what is said and shown in writing conferences to their writing?

Slide 2: Background Information Grade 2 English Language Learners writing group  within main classroom Mixed levels, including beginners.  modeled aspects of writer’s craft and process  goal was to show that good writers revise  small group and one to one writing conferences.  translator helped me to communicate grade level  concepts about writer’s craft. Students became more willing to revise but had lots  of trouble knowing where and how to make revisions after conferences.

Slide 3: Related Questions Arising from My Writers’ Workshop Practices: 1. What long term effect does typing of (young) student drafts by the teacher have on students’ willingness to continue to revise? 2. How much carry over is there when I  begin the year by marking student papers at the locations where they might revise? 3. What concrete tools (checklists,  highlighters, story markers) work well for guiding students to independently revise after a writing conference?

Slide 4: Some of my current findings: Many students, especially language minority  children need explicit instruction in strategies Teacher modeling of strategies for revisiting helps  students know how to approach some aspects of revision. It’s important to establish routines for writing  conferences, whether they be small group, peer, or teacher to student. Access to resources such as personal or classroom  word walls, picture/word lists for verbs, nouns, emotions, other words for said, etc. help children to be more independent while a teacher conducts conferences or small group mini-lessons

Slide 5: Some Things I Hope to Do Use and collect PQC and other kinds of  responses to track their influence on revisions. Make better checklists, notes, and other  concrete tools to send with children after a conference Look at my last year 2nd grade student  writing in third grade and ask their teacher about their attitudes toward revision. Figure out how to ask students about  conferences and their feeling of ownership.

Slide 6: Resources I Have or Will Use Student work samples over time  After The End: Teaching and Learning Creative Revision by  Barry Lane Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention  Bruce Saddler. The Reading Teacher Newark:Feb 2005. Vol. 58, Iss. 5, p. 468-471 (4 pp.) Grammar Instruction and Technology  Jan Lacina. Childhood Education Olney:Summer 2005. Vol. 81, Iss. 4, p. 247-249 (3 pp.) The impact of teachers' comment types on students'  revision http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/60/1/34?eaf