1. The Secret to Powerful Teaching:
Tips and Strategies that Will Make a
Difference in Your Writing Conferring
Presented by Shana Frazin
@sfrazintcrwp
shana@readingandwritingproject.com
2. Welcome!
Let’s begin by chatting with someone who is sitting
near to you:
Book, Movie, TV series, Game or App
recommendation
Topic you are currently in studying
Potty or sleep training?
Language?
Skill: cooking or carpentry?
Small moment story from your morning
3. Tip #1: You gotta get in
the pool if you want to
swim
In other words, in order to teach writing, you need
to do some writing.
Quick Write: Opinion, Narrative or Information
based on your neighborly conversation
4. Tip #2: A conference is a dialogue,
not a monologue
During a writing conference, writers say some
things about…
WHAT HOW
Topic My piece is about…
Writing
Process
I am… (collecting or developing or
choosing or…)
Next Steps Next, I am planning to…
Trouble I need some help with…
5. Tip #2.5: Teach Other Ways
Writers Talk About Writing
Quantity
Quality
Identity (with evidence!)
6. Tip #3: There’s more than one
way to get in the pool
In other words, Research, Decide, Teach is not the
one and only structure for a writing conference
Assessment conference
Compliment-only conference
Partner conference
Follow-up conference
Coming Soon… conference
7. Tip #4: Create examples with
explanations
“Writers reach not for the ornate or the impressive word, but
for the true word, the precise word.” ~Lucy Calkins
In my own writing:
1st try: I watched my mom as she combed her hair.
More precise try: I studied my mom as she lifted the blue
plastic pick to her curls. Phft, phft, phft.
Abraham’s writing
1st try: I was so excited. I jumped up and down.
More precise try: Inside me was a tingle. I started to feel a
little taller. Like a big brother. I made a fist, stretched my
arm and tugged to my chest and said, “yea!!”
8. Tip #5: Talking about
Writing is Writing Work
Some people say, “If you can’t speak it, you can’t
write it.”
Other people say, “Practice makes… permanent.”
I say, “Oral rehearsal is a powerful tool for creating
community and for improving the quality of writing.”
9. Tip #6: Recruit Co-
Teachers
(Including Your Very Own Students) There is a clear and powerful link between reading and
writing that eludes some students. Capitalize on this link
by showing kids how you and many other writers walk in
the footsteps of the masters.
From Crow Call:
It’s morning, early, barely light, cold for November. At home,
in the bed next to mine, Jessica, my older sister still sleeps.
But my bed is empty.
My writing:
It’s evening, late, no sounds, save the whir of the AC unit. At
home, in the room next to hers, Tami’s mom sleeps like a
baby. But Tami is too angry for sleep.
10. Tip #7: Twitter!
Just a few ah.mazing authors who are available on
twitter:
Melissa Stewart
Seymour Simon
Jane Yolen
Lester Laminack
Cynthia Lord
Roy Peter Clark
And, many of your favorite TCRWP SDers!
11. Tip #8: Track Your Teaching
“Take only memories. Leave only footprints.” is
good advice while hiking and conferring.
Give and take artifacts—
TurboScan
Evernote
Old School: Post-Its
12. Tip #9: Fall in Love
with… Revision
Revision is a disposition to be nurtured
Our first thought is rarely our best thought
Shout it out from the rooftops
Make “before and after” writing visible
13. Tip #10: Get happy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM
How can we make our classroom feel like a room
without a roof?
