Ana Drehwing

Writing Conference: Conference Transcript and Reflection

Spring 2016 Literacy

Due: 03.29.16

Date and Time of Conference: 03.24.16 at 11:23am 8 minutes, 53 seconds long

Context: This conference occurred after a writing mini lesson, during independent work. We are
currently in an opinion writing unit, and students are writing book recommendation letters.
Transcribed Writing Conference
2nd Grade Student, Mia
[Me]

Research
Hi, Mia! What are you doing today in writing?

[Mia] Im writing a letter to my dad!

[Me]

Youre writing a letter to your dad that is wonderful! So, did you start writing a new
letter today?

[Mia] Yes!
[Me]

Ok, so tell me what youre doing today in your writing what kind of things are you
thinking about?

[Mia] Well my dad is always reading he, um, reads every night!
[Me]

That is great, Mia what book are you recommending to him?

[Mia] Its called The Incredible Book Eating Boy.

[Me]

Hmm, I dont think I have ever read that book! Can you tell me a little bit about it?

[Mia] He basically, the boy in the book, goes everywhere there are books, he gets them and then
he eats them!
[Me]

Oh my goodness, that sounds like a very silly book!

[Mia] It is!
[Me]

So, Mia, what are you doing as a writer to convince your dad to read this book?

[Mia] Well, first I wrote my opinionwellI kind of did.

[Me]

You kind of wrote your opinion? Ok, so tell me what is your opinion about this book?

[Mia] Well, yeah, so I asked a question, like when we talked about how to start, so, um, I asked
a question.

[Me]

Let me seedo you like to eat books?

[Mia] Yeah do you like to eat books?

[Me]

Eat books? Well, Im thinking, I know that I like to read books! I dont know, but you
know what, that makes me want to keep reading! So that is great, and that is really
important. That is a great question to ask your dad, because it really hooks me in, and
makes me think, hmm, wait a minute. Im a little bit confused, but I really want to keep
reading to know what shes talking about.

[Mia] Because he wont know what Im talking about!

[Me]

Youre right! That is a great hook, Mia! What next steps have you been taking?

[Mia] Well, Im trying to add, um, a little more detail about, um, how, what the book is about.
[Me]

Ok so tell me, why is it that you want to recommend this book?

[Mia] Well, my dad loves to read, and this book is all about eating books, and, like, it is really
silly and my dad likes funny and silly books too.
[Me]

So you think for those reasons, your dad will like this book?

[Mia] Yeah, and there is this one part where it says he eats a lot of books and he gets even
smarter from eating, um, the books.
[Me]

Wow I cant imagine that. That would be pretty interesting if we could get smarter
from eating books, right?

[Mia] (Mia laughs) Yeah! My dad is already smart, because he reads a lot of books, so, like, I
think, um, like, he would like that too in the book.
[Me]

Decide on Compliment and Teaching Point - Compliment

Wow, Mia! I just have to give you a compliment for what you have been doing as a
writer today. Something that is very important with writing opinion letters, and
recommending books, is thinking about your audience, which is the person you are
writing to. Really good writers, when they are trying to convince someone else to read a
book, they think about all that they know about their reader. Then, they use what they
know about their reader to make their letter even stronger and more convincing, and that
is exactly what you are doing! You thought about your dad, and what he likes reading,
and silly books. Then, you thought about why he might like this book because it is a
book all about books, it is silly, and it is about how eating books makes the boy smarter.
This is so important, because you are writing with your dad in mind, and that will make
this recommendation even stronger. As a writer, especially with opinion writing, it is

such a smart idea to write with your reader in mind, so that you can make it even more
convincing that is such great writing work, Mia!
[Mia] (Mia smiles)
[Me]

Teach
You have already done such great thinking work with this recommendation letter to your
dad. Can I give you a tip to help you make your recommendation even stronger?

[Mia] Yeah, sure!

[Me]

I remember that you said you wanted to add some more detail to your writing about the
story is that right?

[Mia] Yeah, but I just dont know what to put.

[Me]

Well, I see that you already added a sentence in the beginning here, where you tell your
dad a little bit about the book when you say, It is a book about a boy who loves to eat
books all the time. This is very important to help your dad understand what this book is
about.

[Mia] Mmhmm.
[Me]

There are other places where you can add some details from the book to your letter, that
will help to support your reasons for your dad to read this book. You said here (points at
writing), that one reason is that the book is a very silly book, right?

[Mia] Yeah. It is silly because, like, who eats books?

[Me]

Yes I agree! Now, in your next sentence you say your next reason that your dad should
read this book, is because he is very smart. I want to teach you that before you jump
from one reason to the next in your letter, you can support your reasons by giving
examples from the book that is where you can add some more detail. Think about it
if I was recommending a book to you, and I said, I love this book! You should read it
because it is very interesting and has a great lesson go read it, would you be
convinced?

[Mia] Well, I dont think so.

[Me]

What would convince you even more to read the book?

[Mia] Ummwell (pauses for a moment to think) maybe if you told me more about why it
is interesting or something.
[Me]

Exactly! That is what you can do here. You can give examples from the book to help
support your great reasons that you already have! Do you remember when Ms. Kessler

wrote her book recommendation for Clementine, and she said, You should read
Clementine because it is hilarious! For example, one time Clementine accidentally cut
off all of Margots hair because she had a piece of gum in it! (I point to the sample
hanging in the room on a piece of chart paper) She supported her reason, that the reader
should read Clementine because it is hilarious, by giving a very funny example from the
book.
[Mia] Oh yeah!
[Me]

You can do the same thing to support your reasons too! Can you think of an example
from the book that really shows why this book is a very silly book?

[Mia] Hmmyes.
[Me]

What is one that you might write that would support your reason?

[Mia] Umm (pauses to think)

[Me]

One reason is that the book is a very silly book. For example

[Mia] I know, I know, I know maybe, like, he puts books in a blender!

[Me]

That seems like a great example, Mia! How might you say that in your writing?

[Mia] Uh, for example, the boy eats books all kinds of ways, and, um, he sometimes even puts
them in a blender to eat them!
[Me]

Wow that is very silly! Using that example from the book really supports your reason.
Now, it makes me want to read more about what else might be silly or funny in this book.
Do you see how you can add details and examples from the book to support your
reasons?

[Mia] Yeah.
[Me]

Link
Mia, this is something that you can always do when you are writing, especially with
opinion writing! Whenever you give your opinion in writing, it makes your opinion even
stronger if you can give reasons why you have that opinion, which you already did in this
letter. Then, you can support your reasons with examples. Something that helps me to
remember this when I am writing about my opinion is OREO.

[Mia] (Mia laughs) Oreo?

[Me]

Yeah! OREO is a way to remember how to make opinion writing more convincing. O
stands for Opinion, R stands for Reasons, E stands for Examples, and O stands for a new

Opinion. Providing reasons and examples to support your opinion is such a strong
writing strategy that you can use today, and every day when you are writing.
[Mia] Ok.
[Me]

Now, do you think you are ready to make this book recommendation letter even more
convincing for your dad by adding some examples from the book to support your
reasons?

[Mia] Yeah!
[Me]

Great, Mia! Go ahead, and get started with that.

Writing Conference Reflection

As Mia is my focus student for this semester, I have been conferencing with her
frequently. Therefore, before this conference I had already done some research in a previous
conference with her at the beginning of this opinion writing unit the week before. Ive noticed in
Mias previous writing that she has been listing one reason after another to support her opinion
about the book she has been recommending. Mia has progressed by writing more engaging
hooks to pull the reader in, stating her opinion right away, and writing strong, one to two
sentence retells that give the reader an idea of what the book is about, which I subtly reinforce in
this conference.
Earlier on in the semester, I found myself using the research I acquired from previous
conferences to guide my future conferences, not really allowing much time for research within
the actual conference. In this conference with Mia, I wanted to take my previous knowledge and
research about her writing with me, but I made a conscious effort to really allow Mia to guide me
with what she wanted to improve upon in her writing. Rather than have a firm, preconceived
idea of what I wanted to teach Mia, I allowed for her to guide me to what she wanted to learn,
and decide what to teach based upon what she was trying to do as a writer. The wonderful thing
about Mia is that she is very self aware as both a reader and a writer, and because of that she is
very comfortable and honest with telling me what she is struggling with, what she wants to
improve upon, and where she might be stuck, as evidenced by her language in the conference.
I spent several minutes researching what Mia was doing as a writer, which I felt was
important, because we have been teaching the students several lessons on what to think about
adding to improve their opinion letters, so I wanted to see where she felt comfortable, and where
she was struggling to really help her needs as a writer. Mia lacks a little bit of confidence as a
writer, so I found that this influenced the way that I spoke to her throughout the conference. I
want to support her and encourage her strengths to help build her confidence, so I found myself
giving her more than one compliment during this conference. I think that this type of support is
important for Mia, but looking back, I am not sure whether or not more than one compliment
could sort of devalue the big compliment I decided to give her. I want to support her, but I
also do not want to overwhelm her. Furthermore, this conference was a bit on the longer side,
and I think focusing on giving one, meaningful, bold, transferable compliment might have made
the conference more concise. The compliment I did decide to give her highlights what I feel is a
more sophisticated writing strategy, and one that can have an immense impact for powerful
opinion writing beyond book recommendations. Considering what she knows about the
audience that she writes to, regardless of the writing genre, and using that knowledge to inform
what she writes, will only lift the level of her writing, and help her to become a more persuasive,
and powerful writer moving forward.
I noted during my research of Mia that she wanted to add more detail about the actual
book. Knowing what I already do about Mia, and how she lists multiple reasons to support her
opinion, I wanted to teach her how to add details about the book in a way that lifts the level of
her recommendation. Because Mia has been developing as a writer and is now thinking about
her audience as she writes, I wanted her to think about what examples from the book would be
relevant when giving reasons for her audience to read the book, rather than just saying her
favorite part, or giving a summary of the book, for instance. The targeted examples from the text
to support her reasons seemed appropriate to make her recommendation more convincing for her
audience, her dad. Considering how I may have made this conference a bit more concise, I think

that I could have gotten straight to the teaching point during the teach segment of the
conference. I decided to ask Mia a few guiding questions to keep her engaged and following
along with me as I moved towards the teaching point. I feel that perhaps I could have gotten
right to the teaching point and had been more direct with the language so that I might have given
her more than one opportunity for active engagement with the strategy. For example, I might
have had her give an example from the book to support her reason that her dad should read the
book because he likes to read, and this is a book about books. This second example would
have given Mia another opportunity to apply the strategy, thus furthering her understanding of
how to apply it independently.
The use of my cooperating teachers mentor text was incremental in helping Mia
understand and clearly see the OREO strategy that I was teaching her. I would have liked to
have that mentor text right next to me as I conferred with Mia, so that she could have underlined
or pointed to the examples in the mentor text. In the future, I certainly see the value in having a
conferring toolkit with me so that I can further help Mia, and other students with which I confer,
to explicitly see the strategies I teach them in other texts. Being able to see the strategy
immediately is a useful guide, and sets the stage for successful transfer during the active
engagement, as the strategy becomes more explicit.
During the link in this conference, although I told Mia about OREO and described it to
her, I think that it would have been more beneficial had I given Mia a mini chart with this
structure more explicitly written out with examples for her. This way, she would be able to
reference it with a more distinct example to guide her as she works to apply this strategy in her
future writing. I truly feel as though the strategy I taught Mia is transferable not only in all
genres of writing, but also as a skill in reading, and in life. For example, in reading, when
developing opinions and ideas about characters, it is important for students to understand why
they might be having those character thoughts. Being able to support those opinions about
characters with examples from the text is significant in developing as more thoughtful and
careful readers. Additionally, in life, it is significant to be able to supply examples to support the
way she feels helps to clarify feelings, and create more compelling arguments. Thus, although I
taught this strategy to Mia in her writing, I feel that this is a strategy that I can remind her of in
many other areas of school as I conference with her during reading, and in future writing
conferences as well.