In this clip I conference with Alexie who is having a difficult time understanding the significance of his narrative. He is intent on describing his car collection and how much he loves it. I struggle with the challenge of convincing him how it can be transformed into a story with significance.
This is a realistic window into the world of challenging conferences that don't always feel productive. It is often difficult to move students in the direction we want. In this conference, I tried to use questioning to get Alexie to discover the significance himself, but gradually I realized that I was going to have to guide him with more direct instruction. When I view this clip, I feel like I spend a lot of time listening to his descriptions of the cars. However, my patience seems to pay off, as he finally begins to touch on some of the significance near the end.
| TEACHER: | So what's the topic here? |
| STUDENT: | Collecting cars. |
| TEACHER: | Oh, collecting cars. Okay. |
| STUDENT: | I just have all these cards. I would pick one of these... |
| TEACHER: | And is this - are you thinking that this is going to be your narrative? |
| STUDENT: | [affirmative] |
| TEACHER: | So you're going to write about collecting cars. |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | All right. And so it looks like it's something that you're really interested in, that you've got a real passion for this, right? |
| STUDENT: | I have two desks full. Tall as that board. And they're all down. |
| TEACHER: | So they're model cars. |
| STUDENT: | [affirmative]. Open the back and you can see built in TVs that don't work I think. |
| TEACHER: | Wow! |
| STUDENT: | And door opens and the steering wheel moves and you move the steering wheel the wheels move. |
| TEACHER: | And how long have you been collecting these? |
| STUDENT: | I had these since I was like, six. |
| TEACHER: | So it's been something you've been doing for years. |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | And what is it about them? |
| STUDENT: | The cars that I had were the first thing I collected. |
| MOD: | And what is it about them that is so special to you? What is it you really like? |
| STUDENT: | I got one from Lake Powell and every time I look at it it memorizes Lake Powell. Like I got one here and I like always visit. I got two from Disneyland and I remember that one. It was a Lamborghini and the other one was a Mustang GTS [inaudible]. |
| TEACHER: | Yeah. I think once you write something like this - |
| STUDENT: | I have a limo and you can open the doors and you can see cologne in it. |
| TEACHER: | Yeah. See, I think it would be really amazing if you write something like this and you bring some of the examples in and maybe use them as almost like illustrations. |
| STUDENT: | I was going to do it, remember for Expert Day. I was going to bring those in, but forgot. |
| TEACHER: | Well, I think you've got a great topic here. I think the challenge is now, you've got to figure out how you make it significant. How do you make this into a story that teaches us something? What do you think it's going to teach us? |
| STUDENT: | My mom saw this show on the Disney Channel and she saw they show you kids' stuff. I might even go on that channel about cars. |
| MOD: | Well, why do you want to share your cars? What is it - what's the message you're... |
| STUDENT: | So everybody can see them. |
| TEACHER: | Yeah, how come? Why do you want people to see this? |
| STUDENT: | How cool they are. |
| MOD: | So you really think they're cool. |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | And what is it about them that's cool? |
| STUDENT: | That they open everything and they light up. |
| TEACHER: | So like all the special features? |
| STUDENT: | And some have spinners. |
| TEACHER: | And there was something else you said that sounded significant. You said that they remind you of things? |
| STUDENT: | Places. I got ten from California here at K-Mart and if I move I can remember California. |
| TEACHER: | Yeah, that line you just said. If I move, I can remember California. |
| STUDENT: | Because I got ten cars at the K-Mart. I open them but I don't play with them. |
| TEACHER: | So you really collect them just like something valuable. You can say they really are special to you because of the memories. |
| STUDENT: | Actually, I have a lot of toys and I want a garage sale at my house I don't want to play with my toys I collect them. [inaudible]. Cars. Football. Helmets. |
| TEACHER: | So actually it takes a lot of discipline, doesn't it, to collect things and not play with them? |
| STUDENT: | I don't play with them. I usually ride my bike or my scooter. |
| TEACHER: | Well, I think you've got something here and I think this is the beginning. So what I really want you to think about is, how can you take this writing about yourself and make it significant or teach us something about it. And I think the things you told me are really interesting, how they remind you of places and that I can - if I move I can remember California from my cars. So I think you need to think about how you can take that message of these - how special these cars are to you and put that in the story about all the cars you have. And you're going to try to draw pictures of all these cars in our heads, right? |
| STUDENT: | I'm a really good drawer, but I don't think I can draw cars. |
| TEACHER: | Well, think about how some of these authors drew pictures in our mind. |
| STUDENT: | I drew - in the fourth grade I used to draw like cars and I still got two cars I drew. I got a truck - I want you to see it. |
| TEACHER: | Great. I want to see them too. So let's try to focus on trying to describe your cars - so describe your cars and then try to get to that message. Well all you're doing here is listing them. See, I don't know that much about cars so I would appreciate you trying to draw a picture in my head. You know how in Earthquake Terror, how we could picture what's going on. |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| TEACHER: | See if you can try to do the same thing in your writing. Okay. And if you need to, take this and skip over all this other stuff. Man! Look at this. Do I have to turn all the way to the end. Alexi, I haven't seen all this. This is incredible. Angel Island! You've got all kinds of stuff. But you went back and picked out the car topic. So you can come up here and you can start continuing to write in here and try to draw pictures in our minds and try to get the message across that they're special to you. Okay? All right. Very impressive. |