To Write or Not to Write

Looking at intrinsic motivation to fuel independent writers while the teacher is conferring with classmates

Let’s face it: many students do not like to write. And even though I have been a teacher of writing for twenty-eight years and am extremely passionate about writing, I still struggle to ignite a spark in some of my most reluctant writers. They’d rather I pull out their toenails with a tweezers than to actually write independently while I’m conferring with their classmates. Once my attention is elsewhere, there are all kinds of mischief and procrastination techniques being employed, including but not limited to hiding under desks. While the cat’s away, the mice will play.

Some challenges I have encountered in teaching students to write:

• Not being able to complete Lucy Calkins’s Units of Study in Teaching Writing to fidelity since our classes are only 47 minutes long
• Not getting my mini-lessons short enough
• Not finding enough time to provide meaningful feedback
• Coming up with an efficient and effective way to keep track of conferences
• Keeping the rest of the class on task and engaged while conferring with individuals or groups
• Being overwhelmed with the amount of work to read and evaluate
• Getting papers back to kids in a timely manner

In addition, I have wrestled with feelings of guilt about not conferring with students enough and not being equitable with whom I confer. For the 2017–18 school year I believe I need to have stricter guidelines/procedures in place, so that I can meet with individuals and not have to worry about misbehaviors.

I always start with the best of intentions. I have seen many of my favorite writing gurus in person and usually have a fire in my belly at the beginning of each year that fizzles out. I feel as though I have to become a drill sergeant, and yes, although I hate to admit it, an overpaid babysitter as the year wears on.

I have been dabbling with Writing Workshops since the late 80s, and have tried many different methods, and I believe my Atwell based conferences were smoother and more efficient than what I’m currently trying. I had dabbled with Laura Robb’s methods prior to my school district adopting Lucy Calkins Units of Study. Laura Robb is one of my favorite gurus. Many years ago I spent an entire day with her at the Midwest Middle School Convention in Chicago and also saw her speak at the NCTE convention in Florida about nine years ago and have also attended a workshop she led. She came to mind right away as I started to think of my research question:

How can I hold more effective and efficient conferences and keep the rest of the class engaged and working on their writing?

During my initial research I perused her book Teaching Middle School Writers, What Every Teacher Needs to Know. I found a quote that kept me digging. “There’s a powerful reason for us to find ways to confer with students: conferring is the most efficient way to teach and support student writers (Anderson 2000; Cramer 2004; Rief 2007; Routman 1999).” (Robb, 199) Another book I researched was Penny Kittle’s Write Beside Them. From her I learned, “Giving feedback during the process of the piece has been shown (Rief, Graves, Murray, Atwell) as necessary to growth in writing but it takes some mighty fine juggling to make it happen.” ( Kittle, 85) My hope this school year is to work on my “juggling”skills.

I have learned that writers do grow with response to their written work as they are writing and not so much from just comments on a final draft. They also need to spend some time looking at the work of others. Keeping good records is important, but listening and observing may be even more important. Kittle emphasised not to use forms with too many questions or you’ll only end up conferring with 2–3 kids per class period.

Another book I researched was Lucy Calkins’s A Guide to the Common Core Writing Workshop Middle School Grades. A quote I took to heart from this book is “. . . writers can actually carry on as writers with enough independence that teachers can conduct attentive, effective one-to-one conferences and small-group coaching sessions.” (Calkins, 73) I will forge ahead to make this happen.

I am hoping to complete video tapes at three different points in the year of my entire class while I am conferring with individuals and groups. I think I will ask Joe Parker or another outside person to videotape me and my class. I plan to use Laura Robb’s three types of conferences: Making the Rounds, Scheduled Conferences, and Pair Conferences. And it goes without saying I will incorporate Lucy Calkin’s four phases of a writing conference: 1. Research 2. Decide 3. Teach 4. Link. I will also include Lucy’s Small-Group Work with Teaching Points and Links. And I hope to employ strategies and tips from Donald Murray, Kelly Galagher, Laura Robb, and Penny Kittle. May the force be with me!