TARA’S GRAVES’ CHAPTERS 12-14 REFLECTION

These three chapters are about conferencing with children. It tells us how to do the conferences correctly and what to say and how much to say. I think conferencing should just be two people talking about the work. I don’t think it should be certain questions asked unless the child has questions about his/her writing. Well, when I had to do class conferencing on Monday, I felt a bit awkward because I had to ask questions that I’m not used to asking. I mean, I’m used to talking story with my cohort members so having to ask pre-made questions made the conversation kind of awkward. I was more used to asking my own questions and just listening to what they had to say. I found myself constantly looking at the paper with the questions on it to see if I was asking the right questions. When I’m in my first grade class I walk around the class and ask the children questions about their writing and they’re more than willing to tell me about their writing. Now that I was given questions, I try to follow them and ask the kids those questions, but I feel like it’s being restricted to just those questions. I basically ask my own questions. Most times they fall along the lines of the questions that we got so thats good. I read on chapter 14 about teachers asking how they find the time to conference with their students. They should make the time I say. I mean, every time the teacher is curious and he/she starts asking the student about his/her writing, the teacher is doing a conference right there. So maybe the teacher doesn’t realize that or maybe they think it has to be more formal. I do agree that the conferences should be student lead and not the teacher talking all the time. Give the student some space to talk about his/her story and then maybe ask some questions about their writing. Then the teacher can step in and help the student with his/her problem whether it be spelling like the book mentioned or something else. It will make the relationship between the teacher and the student much better. I guess that’s all I have to say.