English Online – http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz
Margaret Mahy

Conferences

These are the interactions between the teacher and the student with regard to the student's work. They can be individual, peer, and small group conferences. There should be a range of questions asked during the conference which will: open the conference, follow the writer's information, deal with basic structures, deal with process and explore the content. Teachers should expect the student to be able to describe their purposes for writing. Who are you writing this for? Who is going to want to read this? Often the writer has not expressed all that is necessary to communicate what they wish to say about a topic. It is important for them to realise that the reader has only the words on the page.  Teacher's specific questions, (who, what, where, when, which, how, why) may help the student to clarify sequence through talking ideas over with the teacher. 

© Ministry of Education, Wellington, New Zealand (First published 1998)