This issue of "School Talk" consisted of a compilation of various articles all surrounding the ideas related to conferences with students embedded into the writing workshop.
"Writing Conference: Breaking the Silence" by Ralph Fletcher
"Conversations with Student Writers" by Carl Anderson
"Teacher Talk: Developing Voice and Choice in Writing" by Yvonne Siu-Runyan
The main ideas presented in these articles were all related. It centered around the fact that traditional approaches to conferring with students might, in fact, not be the most effective way to help students learn traits to become better writers. One article highlighted the fact that teachers need to step back and do something as simple as just converse with their students, as they would a friend or colleague. It also urged teachers to respond as writers and laugh when they thought something was funny or mirror their honest feelings (ie: "I was pulled in at the beginning because I love swimming, but when you started listing lots of people I was confused"). The articles also encouraged teachers to help students find their voices when they might be frustrated or discouraged as writers. One article encouraged rehursal to become a main part of the writers workshop in hopes that students who say, "I don't have anything to write about," can TELL stories they find meaningful to an audience and then write down the words. The articles also focus on being a teacher and a learner. It is important to sit eye level with a student, make them feel like their ideas are valued and to model these practices to students. Mainly, the goal of these articles was to help teachers understand that the main goal of conferencing during the writers workshop is to help students become better writers, to teach the writer not the writing and to help students use writing and thinking techniques and strategies.
Conferencing could definitely be used at the kindergarten level. It could be used during any portion of the writers workshop. Especially in kindergarten, young students need a lot of scaffolding and modeling in regards to writing. It could be used during the pre-writing and drafting stage by talking and conversing with students to gain a sense of what they are going to write about. It would be beneficial to use here because a teacher could help a student elaborate on an idea by asking open ended questions. If a student said they wanted to write about playing outside, the teacher could help the student think of a particular time they played out side and ask who they were with, what happened etc. It could also be used during the revising, editing and publishing stage many ways. It would be important to take into mind the developmental level of kindergartners and each student in general. This is where a small conference while circulating around the classroom to assist and model for children how to use phonetic spelling and how to find sight words in the classroom would be helpful.
These articles help enrich writing instruction beyond what I saw in Mr. Limon's video because they enable teachers to step back and remember that they are teaching human beings. It is important to take into mind that these students have different voices and are at different abilities and sometimes teachers straddle that line of being completely in control and having the students in control. These articles present ways for teachers to positively and (possibly) effectively confer with their students. The articles encourage students to respond as a writer, praise specifics, provide short conference times with one focal point, have students become "problem finders," mirror thinking and to reflect post-conference for the teachers' own benefit.
As a professional, I would need to learn more about how the writing workshop can be applied in a kindergarten classroom. I do not see all stages of the writing workshop in my classroom and I am not sure how I would be able to scaffold the students to maintain the level of writing as seen in Mr. Limon's video. Personally, I still think I need to learn more about developmental writing and about how to help students effectively write, learn aspects of writing, and to introduce phonics into the curriculum.
The module components have helped me see how it is possible to structure a writers workshop at the kindergarten level and that it can be successful (the video especially). In order to plan my units, I now realize that writers workshop can be beneficial for kindergartners and that it is important to introduce components of good writing now so that they can grow as writers and foster good writing techniques.
I want to remember/consider that all of my students have their own voices. I also know that some of my students are not motivated or say they don't like writing. I have also seen that there is a big focus on perfection as students write in my class. My CT likes things a certain way. As I plan for instruction I will remember that my students have a voice and stories to share and I will try different techniques such as story telling to help them become interested in sharing their ideas through writing. I will also try and incorporate some activities that involve more developmental writing so the students are not focused on forming perfect letters and words.
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