Not holding regular classes for two days seemed like a very bold choice to me at the beginning of the semester. However, I think that holding 30 minute writing conferences with students on those days was probably the most worthwhile part of the course for most students. The way that people learn to write is through dialogue with more advanced writers. There is really no substitute for this and it is a central part of the process. Learning to write is inherently social and individual. As a result, after thinking about this I don't think I could even teach a writing course when I did not work with each of the students individually. I previously didn't even think that canceling classes and doing conferences instead was an option, but I think it is a great solution.
There are many logistical challenges when it comes to scheduling conferences with students. One was simply determining the schedule. This was difficult to do. I think in the future I might consider an online system that allows students to pick appointments on a first-come first-serve basis.
Secondly, it is a significantly taxing process to have 28 conferences with students. During essay #1 and #2 I met with about half the class. It was extremely time consuming and pretty tiring. I would like to think about ways to make the process of meeting with all students in some way easier. It's possible that it just is a time-consuming and difficult task though. One way I might do this is by asking students to fill out a pre-conference form to have them set the agenda for the conference session. I might also have students fill out a reflection form on what we talked about so I wouldn't feel like I needed to take notes on what I covered with each student enough.
It is worth the headache though to give each student 30 minutes of my undivided attention to talk about their writing in the semester. I also really liked having students do this on the second essay so that the instructor could be familiar with the students' patterns as writers and the students could have already had the experience of a one-on-one writing consultation at the writing center.
There are many logistical challenges when it comes to scheduling conferences with students. One was simply determining the schedule. This was difficult to do. I think in the future I might consider an online system that allows students to pick appointments on a first-come first-serve basis.
Secondly, it is a significantly taxing process to have 28 conferences with students. During essay #1 and #2 I met with about half the class. It was extremely time consuming and pretty tiring. I would like to think about ways to make the process of meeting with all students in some way easier. It's possible that it just is a time-consuming and difficult task though. One way I might do this is by asking students to fill out a pre-conference form to have them set the agenda for the conference session. I might also have students fill out a reflection form on what we talked about so I wouldn't feel like I needed to take notes on what I covered with each student enough.
It is worth the headache though to give each student 30 minutes of my undivided attention to talk about their writing in the semester. I also really liked having students do this on the second essay so that the instructor could be familiar with the students' patterns as writers and the students could have already had the experience of a one-on-one writing consultation at the writing center.
I like your ideas about the preplanning and post-conference reflective writing!
ReplyDeleteBut you cannot just sign up students online on a first-come first-serve basis. You will always have some students who have tight schedules before and after regularly scheduled class meetings: you must give those students time in regular class time for the conferences. You can't let them be late for other classes or even absent from other classes in order to attend your conference: that is what some students will do in a pinch. So somehow how you have to find out first what students' schedules are. You could have them write down and submit to you their class schedules before you create conference schedules.