Strategies for Effective Student Conferences
PWR guarantees students a minimum of three 30-minute
conferences with their instructors, and feedback from
students tells us that these instructor-student conferences
are valued very highly by students. We should all take pride
in the work we accomplish in these intensive meetings and craft
strategies that make the most of these opportunities to mentor
and guide PWR students.
Conferences should be arranged in coordination with the assignment
schedule. In general, conferences should occur after drafts of
major assignments have come in. The week before the drafts are
due, distribute a Conference Sign-Up Sheet listing available
conference times (30 minutes minimum) and location (ideally your
office). Remind students to record this appointment in their
calendars or date books, and then post the sheet outside your
door and/or on the course website so that students can check
it. Also remind them to bring their drafts to the conference.
(Some instructors prefer to give the students their drafts back
during conference and to go through the comments with them at
that time.)
Here are a few tips for responding most effectively in conferences:
- Try to schedule no more than eight conferences in any one
day; they are very intense and will probably leave you drained;
- Remember that conferences are a site of teaching, so maintaining
your teaching persona (rather than being overly informal in
dress or address, for example) will be most effective;
- Prepare by going over your comments on the draft or the oral
evaluation/feedback sheet for presentations, and try to schedule
five to fifteen minute breaks between conferences to do so;
- Begin the conference by asking the student for an update
on work in progress and for the goals the student would most
like to pursue during the conference;
- Make sure you are not doing all the talking. One successful
writer and teacher of writing, Donald Murray, insisted that
his best conferences were ones in which he seldom said more
than “tell me some more about that.” His view is
purposely provocative in its extreme position, but it emphasizes
nicely the student’s active role;
- Resist the desire to get the student to write the essay you
would write on this topic; attempt as much as possible to support
the student’s own goals;
- Take time to go over a key paragraph or passage in the draft;
students can learn a great deal by looking very closely at
a passage with you; talking through the logic, structure, style
of the passage; and articulating ways in which to strengthen
or improve the passage;
- Consider asking students to read passages of the draft aloud,
a technique that can sometimes allow them to hear their work
in different ways;
- Ask students to take notes during the conference, and remind
them to do so if they don’t take your advice;
- Give praise where it is due, but keep your response in line
with the quality of the draft. You don’t want to suggest
that a paper is just a breath away from an A when much work
remains to be done;
- Make clear that you are not covering every single aspect
of the draft that can be strengthened. Their self-evaluations
and peer reviews are also important in planning for revision;
- Conclude by asking the students for any last minute questions
or thoughts and reminding them of upcoming assignments and
due dates.
