After the explanation and my example, kids got to work. Some students had a topic easily and went to writing, others needed some tools to get started. I helped those kiddos out, then another student walked up to me and asked how long it had to be.
"As long as you need to make your point. Did you read mine? You need enough writing some your ideas are clear."
"Yes," he replied, "but mine is different." I asked him to go get his iPad so he could read it to me.
He came back, sat down at our conferring space, and read his writing to me while I followed along on the screen. It was really good! He basically wrote about how perfect is a fraud, because nothing is perfect, and how everything has a flaw. When he finished I told him that I really liked his ideas and that I thought it was great. Then I asked if he wanted coaching to make it better.
"You mean on the punctuation, right?"
"No, not at all!" I said. "My idea is more in the elaboration of your points. I was thinking that if you are saying nothing is perfect, and that there is a flaw with everything, a good writing strategy would be to show, and not tell. So what I would do if I were you is think of an example."
I was then thinking aloud to him. "Think of your perfect friend, and list three traits." Then I began to write in the air... "Katie is the perfect friend because she is fun, and we both like to write and teach so we talk about that stuff, and also because her jokes are funny." Then I went back to coaching... "But then, say her flaw too, to make your point." and I went back to writing in the air again. "But here's the thing, Katie lives in Phoenix, so far from me. So can I say she's the perfect friend, if there is a flaw? Wouldn't the perfect friend live in your zip code? This is what I mean about perfect. It's a fraud."
I continued, "What do you think of my tip, you know, to give an example to show your point? Do you think you can do that?"
He smiled, nodded, and said yes. "Off you go then, try it out!"
He went back to his seat and then the class preceded on as normal, until it ended, and everyone had left. Except one of my other kiddos who needed a heart-to-heart. But my writer was still there, too. My heart-to-heart kiddo shouts at him, in a lovingly, middle-school-way, "Come on, why are you even still here?"
With a smile he shows the screen of his iPad to us, and says, "Because I want to show Ms. Brezek my blog."
You guys! Conferring matters - yes, it matters because you help kids make their writing better, but even more so, it matters because you create a space for kids to be heard. They sit in front of you, gather all their courage, and read their writing to you. Their writing is their heart. And they put it out there for us to read and critique.
And so when they have positive experiences and they grow, they want to revel in that glow.
And we must create the space needed to let them.
