In this conference, I check back in with Jun, who was absent on the previous day. I check to see whether he was able to reread all of his briefs and select one that he wanted to work harder on. I also review today's lesson and ask him to now write about why the event he selected was important.
I try to help Jun think through some of the things he might want to include in his writing. He didn't have the opportunity to talk it through on the carpet since he was absent the day before and hadn't yet selected a topic for his publishing. Talking before writing is often extremely helpful to my English language learners.
Jun has a hard time putting words on paper. He has great ideas and thoughts when it comes to writing, but many of those thoughts are lost when he begins recording.
Jun is somewhat limited in his English proficiency. He is also quite introverted in his writing - it is his hardest time of day. Considering that he had been absent the day before, he did quite well during the workshop time to get caught up with the rest of the class.
| TEACHER: | So the next thing that you need to do... so you're pretty much caught up to where the other kids are. You're going to go to the next blank page and that's perfect it's right here and you're going to write that question on the board. Let's think about that. And you didn't have a chance to talk about it on the carpet. So can you talk about it with me? You had never been lost before? Okay, so how did you deal with being lost? What did you do? |
| STUDENT: | Maybe people will read and it will be good for people to read. |
| TEACHER: | So you think it would be a story that's interesting for other people to read. Okay. So what were some of the - so it was the first time that you got lost. What were some of the feelings that you had? |
| STUDENT: | I was scared. |
| TEACHER: | And what were you scared of? |
| STUDENT: | Being lost and my mom was gone. |
| TEACHER: | You were a little worried that you might not find mom? |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | That you would not see her again? |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | And that scared you? So what did you do while you were lost? |
| STUDENT: | I was running and running and running and I find mom. |
| TEACHER: | So they didn't have to announce over the loudspeaker that you were lost or anything like that. Can you remember some of the things that you were thinking while you were lost, running around looking for mom? |
| STUDENT: | Yes, maybe my mom went home. |
| TEACHER: | Okay. Was your sister there too? |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | Was she with mom? |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | Okay. Did you have any thoughts about your sister? |
| STUDENT: | No. |
| TEACHER: | All right. Well, you definitely have a great start here, Jin. So what I'm hearing you say is that is that it was an important event to you because it was the first time that you've ever been lost. The first time you were ever wondering if mom was gone. Some of these other details that you also included with me would be a great opportunity to write descriptive details. |