Small-group writing conferences can be more effective with organization and planning. There are 4 types of conferences - table conferences, skill conferences, expectation conferences, and progress conferences. Teachers should form diverse groups, keep records, and plan conferences thoroughly. Practical tips include not overconferring, allowing student choice, collaborating with colleagues, and building relationships. Students can monitor their writing process using prewriting plates to help target instruction.

1. ReadShare Presentation:
Small-Group Writing Conferences:
How to Use your Instructional Time More Effectively
Author: Holly Slaughter
-The 4 different types of small-
group conferences
-How are small groups actually
formed?
-How can you stay organized
when conferencing?
-Practical tips
-Helpful strategies
Emily Doher, Suzanne Russell, and Katie Bueche

2. Small-Group Conferencing:
4 Types:
Table Conferences
Skill Conferences
Expectation Conferences
Progress Conferences

3. When launching a new unit of study
When reminding students about
strategies we’ve already taught
When introducing a layered or
challenging writing technique
Table Conferences:
When presenting a variation on a
When to Conduct
minilesson
When sharing a student’s work
When sharing a one-to-one
conference from which everyone
will benefit

4. Skill Conferences: When to Conduct
When addressing patterns of student response
When studying craft
When students are revising their work
When teaching conventions
When working with students in the same stage of the writing
process
When students are reflecting on their current writing and setting
goals for future writing

5. Expectation Conferences:
When to Conduct
When establishing expectations at the beginning of the
year
When helping students who have difficulty following
expectations
When helping students who rely on you to get them started
When introducing a new classroom procedure
When helping students meet deadlines

6. Progress Conferences:
When helping students meet
bottom-line standards
When to Conduct: When helping kids keep pace
with the class as a whole
When promoting
accountability (“I care, I
remember, and My Words
Matter”)

7. How to Make Conference Groups
* Conference groups can be made up many different ways. Here are
a few ideas that the book emphasized upon:
-Don't always place the students who are writing well together.
Sometimes it can greatly benefit struggling students to see a
classmate explain it to them in their own words rather than the teacher
being the only one able to assist during conferencing.
-Teach or reteach a mini lesson with a few students who are
struggling with a specific step in the writing process.
-Form groups based upon what type of conference you want to hold.
Examples: skill conference, expectation conference, progress
conference, or a table conference

8. Systematic Planning
and Record Keeping:
PLAN YOUR CONFERENCES
THOROUGHLY!
KEEP RECORD
OF WHO
YOU HAVE
CONFERRED
WITH!

9. Practical Tips
to Follow When
Conferring Don't Overconfer!
Allow for Choice
Work with Colleagues
Build and Nurture Relationships

10. Students Monitor Their Own Writing
A tool that Jennifer Process
McCafferty teaches her
students to monitor their own
writing is a "prewriting" plate.
How this can help small group
conferences:
How to implement this in your
If the teacher sees that three
own classroom:
or four students are all
revising, she/he can gather
Each student puts their name
them as a group and teach or
on a clothes pin and moves it
reteach a revision technique
on the plates through the
or skill.
stages of their own personal
writing process.