Conferences
Conferences with individual students are valuable means of evaluating personal
achievement and growth. Conferences provide opportunities for personal, focused
assessments of students' reading and writing progress, as well as their behaviours,
interests and attitudes. Teacher-student conferences may be held to edit a piece
of writing, hear a student read, discuss a project or share students' concerns
and questions about the language processes.
Conferences may also be held with groups of students to assess the progress
of a project or discuss responses to literary selections.
Purposes
- to assess individual development in supportive and non-threatening situations
- to model questioning and collaborative techniques which students can assimilate
and later use in peer conferencing
- to gather information about students' knowledge of the language processes
- to provide opportunities for students to reflect on the reading and writing
processes
Teacher Note:
- Try to conference students at a specific time each day.
- Make each conference brief, focused and positive.
- Gradually encourage students to conference with peers using techniques modelled
in teacher-student conferences.
- Give students the opportunity to determine the need and focus for a conference.
(Saskatchewan Education English Language Arts, June 1992)