How to Make One-on-One ELA Conferences Work

Somewhere along my career path, I heard about student conferencing and the idea of meeting with each student to go over work. My methods up until that point had included circulating the classroom to touch base with each student or to check off homework. I had focused on leaving extensive notes on papers to show them how to improve. I used rubrics and tried to grade faster while still giving them excellent feedback.

Nothing compared to what I got out of conferencing when I finally tried it. The results were so astonishing that I felt like I had missed the big picture for all those years. I wished I had used conferencing all along.

Reasons to Try Conferencing

Why conference? Probably the best reason is that it gives you the opportunity to connect with your students personally and build relationships. While you’re learning more about your student and what they’re like, you’re also learning about their family, their likes and dislikes, their dreams and passions, and what they find easy to master as well as what they struggle with.

Once the student understands that you care about them as a person, they’re much more willing to ask questions that they might be embarrassed to ask in class. They’re open to being vulnerable and admitting that they don’t understand something. They become motivated to do better, knowing that they had a personal conversation that focused on ideas about how to improve their work. They have time with you to ask technical questions. Talking students through the material results in many epiphanies.

I also discovered that more than any other technique, conferencing makes way for deep learning. Differentiation comes naturally in conferencing because of the ability to focus on one student and their needs. Once you are aware of the student’s fears, limitations, struggles, etc., you can help redirect them to a more positive place and show them that they can do the work effectively. Going through examples changes their perspective for what the piece will look like. Reading seems accessible because they found something they’re passionate about. Conferencing is very effective in addressing students’ needs and getting results.

Once conferencing has occurred, assessing students’ work becomes much easier. You know what goal you agreed on and what to look for in the next drafts. You understand where the student is struggling and where to look for change. Conferencing can be used in any area students are studying: writing, grammar, reading, test prep. It is the avenue to a new level of learning.

How I Manage Conferences

Here’s a routine that worked for me.

1. Have students prepare for the conference by completing a survey such as this reading survey or an outline like this narrative writing outline or a draft or by analyzing results of their work (quiz, text, etc.).

2. At the beginning of the hour, teach a lesson that you want the kids to work on.

3. As students are completing the lesson, call them up one at a time. Depending on the goal, the meeting could last anywhere from three minutes to 10 minutes. It usually took me one to two days to get through all of my students.

4. Have students bring their outline or survey and establish the goal. Example: “We will solidify your idea for your narrative writing paper” or “We will determine the genre of books you like to read and brainstorm titles.”

5. While conferencing with students, have a class roster and use this to take brief notes on what you talked about and focused on for each student.

6. When the conference is concluded, reiterate what you agreed the student would work on, make sure they are comfortable with the idea, and allow for any additional questions.

I found the conferences to be enjoyable and immensely rewarding. Students responded with quality work and often asked for more (“Can we touch base at the end of the hour?” “Will you meet with me today to go over X?”).

Much to my delight, conferencing resulted in high interest on the topic we were covering, a sense of relatability to the student and their work, a much deeper understanding on the part of the student for what the teacher was looking for, and a deeper understanding on the part of the teacher for what the student was struggling with.

Finally, conferencing allowed maximum growth. Where giving written feedback in the past had completely failed me, verbal feedback was faster and far more efficient. Students couldn’t ignore it (not read it) because they had to meet with me and discuss it. This was far more productive. If you haven’t tried conferencing, this could be a life-changer!

Some Examples

After a lesson on how to write a narrative paper, conference with students regarding their initial ideas or topics for their writing.

1. Goal: Make sure students have a solid idea that they can fully develop throughout their piece.

2. Notes: What is the student’s idea? How can they expand this? What examples will be used? How does the idea reflect a coming-of-age moment? I took brief notes to help me remember what we discussed.

3. Time: If the student’s idea is great, then they can describe it and flesh it out within a couple of minutes. Take notes on what they will be doing and any specifics you discussed. If the student is struggling, simply start by asking them questions about themselves and their experiences to brainstorm. Make a list together and build on that.

The first student might only take a couple of minutes. The second student might take 10 minutes, with a promise to revisit when they’ve had a chance to think about it some more and add to their brainstorm. Make a note to revisit with this student within the next couple of days.

4. Results: For this particular conference, you want the student to leave feeling confident about their idea and where they are going. If they are still unsure, you want them to be closer to making a decision about what they want to write. Often, brainstorming together helps students to think outside the box and to remember what they do know that would work. In the end, the conference is always a positive experience even if they don’t get the perfect answer or solution that day.

5. Connection: These brief moments of sharing wield incredible insights into students’ abilities and personalities. I can’t tell you how many times I learned something crucial about a student in the few minutes we spent talking that made a huge difference in my ability to relate to them and the academic work they were doing.

It is that connection that is so powerful and motivating to students. Later, many students would tell me that they wanted me to write them a recommendation or help them with something because I “knew them so well.” That happened because of conferencing.