For me, the challenge arises when I look at a student's paper. I do see the great content and the wonderful story that is developing, but the errors in the writing make me want to cringe. I do pride myself in knowing how to construct meaningful sentences into a cohesive paragraph, into a well-executed paper or essay. I find it difficult to not mark up the student's paper with corrections.
I have battled the need to fix everything, but focusing on fixing one thing at a time. I tell each individual student to work on one or two skills that will improve their writing. Here's where I get into trouble. The majority of my students are at different places in their writing. How can I bridge the different levels of my students in order to create more meaningful conferences? I know that I should look at their writing and use weaknesses to form mini-lessons, but what if all of the students do not need that mini-lesson. This is where I find conferencing to be so difficult.
I do not know how to make the time for each student. They all want me to read their work. They beg me to work with them and look at their writing. I am fortunate that my students do love to write, but how can I manage all of things. It just seems like I am having to keep twenty balls in the air, juggling them all, without missing a beat.
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I tend to notice and fix q lot of my own spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors on the fly as I write, and I think I subconsciously expect my students to do the same thing, no matter how unrealistic that is! It is very distracting and I tend to see it and then struggle to put my focus back on the content while I'm thinking, "how could they miss that? They had to realize it didn't look right!" And this after I myself tell them constantly, "get your thoughts down, let the idea flow, don't worry about spelling or punctuation until you are on your final copy." I loved Regie Routman's idea to have the child read their paper aloud so you can listen to the message rather than get distracted by errors or handwriting. I am going to try to remember that! I also liked the idea of using sticky notes to jot things you discuss and want them to remember when they return to their seat, rather than marking on their paper. Simple, excellent idea!
ReplyDeleteI have the exact same problem with conferencing. I don't feel like I am able to manage the class as well. Also, like you, I cringe when I look at their papers. All I want to do is fix everything instead of focusing on one specific part of the paper. I think the student goal setting should help with this; put the accountability on them and have them figure out where they struggle in their writing. This way you are helping each student with their weakest areas.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of the same problems with conferencing. This seems to be the hardest part of the writing block. I try to make it around to work with every student but never have enough time. I really liked the idea of goal setting and using peers to help with editing. This will allow some of the time I spend editing with children to already be worked out.
ReplyDeleteFrom Ashlay:
ReplyDeleteI also find it very hard to conference with every student. Because I know there is not enough time in the day, I find myself conferencing a lot wit struggling students and not enough with higher students. This is not fair, but I true to make do with the time I do have. As far as classroom management during conference time I had to make it a game for my attention. They "think" whoever is staying on task the best gets extra conference time with me. For the most part if they have something interesting to do, they do just find.