How's it Going--it's going great! (part 3)

I have to admit, when I first started reading through How’s it Going?, I wasn’t sure how applicable it would be to me and my students.  Although I don’t have a formal Writers Workshop in my classroom, I’ve found that Carl Anderson’s advice on how to confer with students was helpful during informal conferences I had with my students.  One thing I didn’t consider, but have now found important is planning conferences,  “It takes a lot of thoughtful choreography before we confer in order for conferences to go well.  We make several decisions that have major impacts on the quality of the conversations we have with students” (Anderson, 2000, p. 156).  I’ve found this advice to be really helpful with students, because it’s one thing to have a conversation with a student about their writing, but it’s something else all together to intentionally talk with a student with the mindset that you are trying to help them become a better writer. 

In the last 2 chapters, Anderson gives us some tools to take with us as we confer, one thing he mentions right away is how we position ourselves when we are conferring with students, “When I confer, I choose to go to where students sit in the classroom.  While conferences are not conversations between equals, students seem more at ease talking with me when I meet them where they feel most comfortable . . .” (Anderson, 2000, p. 156). I LOVE this, because it reminds me so much of Freirian thinking and how we need to solve the student-teacher contradiction. 

Anderson offers some really good ideas about how to keep track of students and their progress as writers, “I usually take notes on three areas of interest.  First, I write down what I learn about a student as a writer: the work he is doing and insights I gain into who he is as a writer from what he says or from looking at his draft.  Second, I record what I teach him in the conference.  And, third, if I think the class might benefit from hearing what the student and I talked about during the conference, I jot down “share” . . .” (Anderson, 2000, p. 160).  I’m really encouraged by the way he keeps records and his charts in the books.  Honestly, I really struggle with keeping “paper data”—I think I’ve got it all stored in my brain.  However, I love how Anderson was very candid about embarrassing moments when his brain has failed him in keeping track of students.  If I’m really honest, I’m sure I’ve had those moments as well.  I feel like I will really use these kinds of trackers as I implement a Writer’s Workshop method in my new classroom. 

Finally, I love the advice Anderson gives to teachers as we struggle with the day-to-day instruction and feedback we give to our students, “We have to keep in mind that our goal in conferences is to help students become better writers.  If we confer with a first grader about how to find a topic to write about, we’ve helped him become a better writer” (Anderson, 2000, p. 166).  I many teachers, as well as myself, have struggled with feeling pressure to “get things done” and “make every moment count”, but really, every moment does count and we truly are helping students get things done, even if it is a seemingly small thing like helping them learn how to brainstorm or get inspiration from favorite authors and illustrators. It’s funny, because as a teacher you know that all the little things do add up to be big things, but for some reason there’s this external pressure to have big things everyday.  I guess the more I experience the little things becoming big things, the more convinced I am that everything we do with kids—whether it’s in writer’s workshop or on the playground, or morning meeting—really matters.