When I first heard Katherine Bomer speak at Columbia University over a year ago, Hidden Gems was due to come out in a month. She spoke fast and with passion about how to talk to kids about their writing; she used up all of the hour allotted to her and allowed some of her time to trickle into the next session. Finding hidden gems in student writing was clearly something she believed in.
Her energy caught me, and I preordered the book. In other words, I am a dork. This is probably my fourth time reading through the book; I will probably need to read chapter four a few more times before it actually flows naturally in my conferences.
I am so thankful for the grey boxes she provided to help me talk to my writers. The more that I name and teach the skills I want my kids to have, the more I realize how vitally important it is to be more specific. Don’t get me wrong, I have conferences where I fall flat on my face in this area, almost everyday. I can’t tell you how many times I have been in Stacy’s office this year to talk about how to have an effective writing conference. I have been frustrated by kids who just stare at me when I ask them what goal they are working on; I have been unable to think of anything good to say about a piece.
However, when I look back at this chapter I am reminded that if I just slow down, and name things specifically the kids will eventually get the hang of it. Don’t get me wrong I sometimes feel silly when I say to a kid, “Your writing feels tense and edgy,” but I have yet to have a student laugh at that feedback. In fact more often than not their eyes light up and they are confident they have done something right. It is from this place of confidence that I can teach and encourage revision.
What quotes from the book do you think you might be able to weave into a writing conference?
5 replies on “Naming & Teaching”
I read the book this summer specifically to get some ideas on language to use in conferences. While the book is a bit “flowery” for me, I do like the non-technical language because I think it is less scary for the students. I will often use emotions to give specific feedback. For example, “The tension in your poem really grips the reader” or “the flow of your sentences is relaxing” are some comments I made with reading some of their isolation poetry this week.
I like the examples that she uses in the book to compliment kids writing. However, most of the examples are way too intense for my students writing. Many of my students write very simple sentences, I am trying to adapt her examples to fit their writing.
So sorry that I will miss our meeting tomorrow. My biggest focus since last time has simply been letting the students write more. Sometimes I give them a topic (or a few choices) other times it is totally up to them. It is interesting to see what they write about and how often they eagerly ask if they can share. I have been focusing on looking and pointing out the good in their writing and talking with them as writers…not writers-in-training. Looking forward to meeting with everyone in May!
I liked the suggestions for replying to students writing. I really liked the statement, we spend so much time looking for what isn’t there!!!
I confess that as a kid I read all of the reviews at the beginning of a book. I loved the language that reviewers used. It was powerfula nd positive (yes, I’m a “word nerd”!) I never thought of looking at them as a teacher to give feedback to studnet writers. Neat idea.