What+is+Independent+Writing+with+Conferences?

=**What is Independent Writing with Conferences?**=

The students choose their own topics to write on and apply the writing process to their work. The teacher conducts individual conferences to personalize the instruction and support the student.
=**Writing Conferences**=

===In any whole group mini-lesson, the instruction is just right for some yet too easy or hard for others. Therefore, the writing conference is the heart and soul of teaching the writing process. In the writing conference, you are able to provide instruction in the child's zone of proximal development.===

=**What constitutes a good conference?**=

In a good conference, the child is speaking about 80% of the time, the teacher 20% of the time.
===The writing conference success comes from two things: the teacher's knowledge of the writer and the teacher's knowledge of the process. If you know these two things then your scaffolding will be different based on each writer and where they are at in the process.===

Just like mini-lessons, writing conferences are brief, focused, and designed to actively engage the learner in self-reflective learning.
=How do I conduct a conference?=

1. The pre-conference
===This part of the conference sets the tone for the whole session. The teacher is putting the child in charge of the conference by asking where the child is at in the process and what he needs help with in his writing. This allows the child to direct his own learning with some guidance from the teacher.===