Teacher-student writing conferences can develop critical thinking skills in students; however, if implemented ineffectively, they will not promote this 21st century skill. Research highlighted the importance of students thinking for themselves as guided by their teachers through open-ended questioning. The ultimate goal of writing conferences is develop lifelong writers who can reflect and make changes to their writing without always relying on an adult or editor. By having students fill out the pre-conference reflection sheet as well as reflecting on how well they thought about their writing goal, I challenged my students to do some thinking on their own before I told them what I noticed as a strength or area of growth. Also on the pre-conference reflection sheet, students had to describe one thing they were doing well as a writer. It is vital for students to not only reflect on areas of growth but also strengths as writers.
Writing conferences directly relate to Proposition One, Three, and Four from the National Board-Professional Teaching Standards. Proposition One states that teachers are committed to students and their learning. Throughout writing conferences, teachers are looking at the individual needs of students and teaching them based off the skills they need. Proposition Three is that teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning. In conferences, teachers take notes and data of writing strengths, areas of growth, and student goals to see student growth over time. Finally, Proposition Four says teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience. Teachers reflect on student progress to determine writing goals. For example, a teacher would not give the most complex writing strategy to a student who has not mastered a difficult one and vice versa. Writing conferences also relate to the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium standards, InTASC, in the following ways.
Standard 1, Learner Development: Teachers challenge students to expand on their writing and reflect on their personal growth.
Standard 2, Learning Differences: Conferences are individualized and each student gets a unique writing goal each conference.
Standard 3, Learning Environment: I meet students in their own space by pulling up a chair rather than pull them to a separate location.
Standard 6, Assessment: During each conference, students are assessed formatively. This is shown by the recording of data.
Standard 7, Planning for Instruction: Students are allowed to reflect on their understanding and at some moments set the agenda for the conference.
Standard 9, Professional Learning and Ethical Practice: The action research I implemented was based on literature and academic research.