In this transition from the mini-lesson to the writing workshop, I give students the usual reminders about how the room should look and sound as they begin to work and I begin conferencing. This clip also shows an interesting example of a peer conference during the workshop period.
This clip demonstrates the kinds of conversations you want to encourage during the writing workshop. It is definitely possible for students to have meaningful peer conferences without teacher involvement. They do not, however, happen automatically. It takes a great deal of modeling, praising, and reminding throughout the year to get students to this stage, but the results are powerful.
| TEACHER: | All right that sounds beautiful. So now I can hear Beethoven? I will hear few voices because I know some people will be reading and writing to somebody else or helping somebody. So I know I'll hear some of those voices, those helping voices. But most of the sound is going to be Beethoven and pencils writing. Okay? |
| STUDENT: | If a person's not reading it and somebody's reading it to the person, it's like - it's saying - it's saying that like all of a sudden I - one cloudy October night of a girl named Alexis is walking down the street with her best friend Sally. And it was the end of Halloween and they were on their way to Sally's house to get ready to count their candy they had got during trick or treating. Alexis had thirty-five pieces of candy and Sally had forty. But if you're not looking at the thing, at the paper, it - you can't tell if it's another paragraph. I don't know how to... When I finish it do I have to make another paragraph? |
| STUDENT: | You never say like another paragraph. Why does the reader - like if someone's reading to you why do they have to know it's another paragraph if you say, Alexis had thirty-five pieces of candy and Sally had forty. |
| STUDENT: | Because when you're reading like a regular book and you could - I don't know - like when they change paragraphs, if I'm reading to you and they change paragraphs, you can kind of tell that there's another paragraph going on. But in mine, you can't tell. I don't - I don't think you can tell. |
| STUDENT: | You want them to tell? |
| STUDENT: | Yes. I want them to tell. When I say this it's like a whole different setting. Like it's saying that - their candy they got during trick or treating. Alexis had thirty-five pieces of candy. Should I like - should I add that I have like - like when they got back to Sally's house? I don't know, I don't know what to say. |
| STUDENT: | So they're like at someone's house in there? |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. They're - yeah because you usually count candy - |
| STUDENT: | Yeah well maybe - I think they - someone would figure that. But I think if you want to add it on you can like maybe say, when they got back to Sally's house they counted their candy and Alexis has thirty-five and Sally had forty, something like that. |
| STUDENT: | Should I like add it in, but should that be another paragraph? |
| STUDENT: | Yeah, because they're in a different setting. So maybe you can add that on and it can still be in the paragraph. |
| STUDENT: | And I'd say like, when they got back to Sally's house and finished counting, Alexis had thirty-five pieces of candy and Sally had forty. |
| STUDENT: | Yeah. |
| STUDENT: | Oh, thanks. |