Conferring (Sarah)

In the past, I have tried a couple of different practices for conferring with students with writing. It’s always been a struggle for me to teach skills that help them with their editing. Like many, I tried making the corrections for students on a rough draft, pass it back, they fix it, and resubmit. And like many, I learned that doesn’t teach them anything about editing at all. I have most recently tried meeting with each kid independently, asking them to read parts to me I’ve already identified need attention. We try to make the corrections together, but I look back and feel like I’m really leading them through it, and the goal is to help them gain that skill themselves. 
Currently, I had the chance to do some “conferring” around the banned book reading with   groups in the 9th grade class, albeit informally. I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian with two students from one section of our class, and because there were only two, we could talk about individual thoughts and strategies, and discuss what we needed to consider and practice. It wasn’t one-on-one, but it felt effective as they were engaged with the book, and have since structured argumentative writing pieces about the validity of the book being banned or challenged. Based on this, I am striving to implement a strong, consistent conferring process in order to help the kids gain necessary skills.