I think it's interesting to compare my conferences with my Basic Writing students and my 110 students. Honestly, I think my conferences with the BW students were much more fun. I felt more relaxed, they had more say, and we were able to talk more on a personal level.
Of course, I love to conference with my 110 students as well. Sometimes it's a better way to help them with papers than writing illegible comments in small margins. This way I can talk to them, explaining my suggestions. And I can see through their body language whether they understand. They can ask questions, too, or communicate with me about what they were thinking at a certain point. Also, I can show them examples of a grammar issue, for example, with which they are struggling.
But there are some fundamental differences between my BW conferences and 110 conferences; some of them seem impossible to change. Primarily, I have much less time with my 110 students. Even adding 5 more minutes to the 15 minutes I spend with each (which now adds up to 10 hours total) will make the conference only 20 minutes long, much shorter than the hour or so I have with each BW student. Because I have so little time with each 110 student, I feel that I have to be more directive in order to actually help them with their papers in that time.
I am also more directive with 110 students because I feel responsible for their grades. As their teacher, I feel that I must give many helpful comments so that they can get the best grades possible on their final drafts.
Finally, I am more directive in 110 conferences because I am the one who called them . . . I asked my students to come in to see me, whereas my BW students all set up time to meet with me on their own, so I felt that I should primarily use the time in the ways they wanted to use it. Of course, if a 110 student comes to meet with me outside of conferences, I feel that the time belongs to that student, and we talk about his or her concerns.
These are the reasons that I think my BW conferences are more fun and maybe even better. But I'm not sure if I can or want to change the conditions that make them this way.
free birds: Perchy and Kiwi
1 comment:
i've actually done a lot of "mini" conferences this semester, where i'll meet with students one on one while the rest of the class does a focused freewrite or similar. dr. cadle suggested this and i used it a lot during the position paper unit -- this way i was able to respond individually to each student's thesis, intro, outline, and conclusions. those who i couldn't get to in class, i took their writing home and handed it back the next class period. this cut down SO much on time outside the class and let me connct with students inividually on every step of their paper. i would recommend this process to everyone!!!!!
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