Reflection

NIWP
Chapters 13 and 14
Conferring
Learning to Confer
by Lucy Calkins

When I first start reading Chapter 13, Conferring, I had a difficult time swallowing the part w/nine-year-old Becky saying she was going to confer with herself - I don't think I have had any 12-year-olds saying that. But as I read further, I was able to buy into more of this particular classroom environment. The teacher has obviously done an excellent job in modeling what the classroom should look like, and how it should operate - very admirable!

So I kept on reading, which makes me wonder how I've gotten into my seventh year of teaching and I hadn't heard of Calkins until the Summer Institute. I appreciate Calkins' list of questions that should apply, no matter what age of the writer or the genre of the writing. It would be a good idea if I put a list of questions in each student's tool box so they would consistantly be able to ask good guiding questions.

Calkins identifies conferencing is at the heart of the writing project. And while Calkins admits that learning to conference is a difficult process, she stresses the importance of meeting individually with students and that this act should not be compromised. on!

Another set of questions Calkins advocates from teacher to writer, revolve around what the writer needs to hear. It's a way of connecting to the writer's heart which can lead to deeper heart-felt writing. I think this technique will take time to develop, as the year progresses, because you need to know your students.

In conclusion of this chapter, Calkins reminds us that we will not always be there when our students write, so students need to be reliable for their own success. "Students need to become critical readers of their own texts. Our job in a writing conference is to put ourselves out of a job, to interact with students in such a way that they learn how to interact with their own developing drafts," Calkins writes. I hadn't thought about it in this way - putting myself out of a job - but maybe this is in the April-June time frame, and then I'' be looking forward to the next batch of kids in the fall!

In Chapter 14, Learning to Confer, Calkins discuses how we can confer with ourselves and how we can conference with others to re-see a subject or a scene. I love re-seeing a scene in my mind - that's one of the best things about writing! Then, still delving deeper into the scene by asking: What do I wonder? Where is the mystery?

I like how Calkins tells her students that they can start anywhere in the story or memory; it doesn't have to be when the sun rose in the sky, it's the event that is important, then the details; big picture, little picture.

Yet, when conferencing with students, Calkins says there are also times to stop and do mini-lessons or reteaching with the class. I think this part of the writing process is quite a juggling act because as a teacher you need to be aware of where each students is at, the management of the entire class, and what time it is, too! It makes me wonder how I'll ever get anything else taught, but I realize that this is the ability to organize and to see the big picture of getting a great deal accomplished in a relative short amount of time. Everything needs to be interwoven - and for me this year it will be geography, reading, and the writing process! Whoa, Nelly! Let's not get overwelmed before the school year even begins!!! Think, write, rethink, rewrite my plans!!! If you plan, they will understand...fingers crossed!!!