Conferencing

During the first conference, the student and you are setting Revising goals.

You each set one goal.

The focus is on ARMS (Add, Revise, Move, Substitute).

You can begin your conference with one of the following questions that will lead the student into setting a goal:

• What are you noticing?

• How is your writing going?

• How can I help you?

If their question requires that you read the whole piece, then have them write down what they want you to look for on a post-it. That way you can read the paper later and meet with them tomorrow to conference. Otherwise, you may spend the entire conferencing time reading their paper.

After you both set goals, they go off and fix their paper. They can peer revise again if you would like. That is completely optional. However, they do not have to grid again! If their paper is completely unreadable from the drafting and revising, you may have to ask them to rewrite it.

During the second conference, you review the goals that were set last time and make sure they were completed. Then, the student and you set Editing goals. You each set one goal again. The focus is on GUMS. If this is the personal narrative that they are going to publish, then you will want to conference again before they publish.