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A group of teacher-researchers used dialogic assessment in parallel conferences to help students get more writing onto the page during conferences.
Teaching writing is hard, even for veteran writing teachers. We know how to structure writing conferences so that students engage with ideas, vocalize areas for improvement, and note next steps in revision. However, too often, when students later work on drafts, they stare at a blinking cursor. They forget next steps or doubt their writing competence. Frustrated, when they return to class, they have not progressed as expected. We challenge teachers to critically examine our role in this cycle. Although the writing conference may have "felt good," it may not have provided the support needed. Writing conferences, as envisioned by Nancie Atwell, Lucy McCormick Calkins, and others, largely ask students to defer the actual composing of words until the teacher is gone. What happens to writing deferred? Sometimes the ideas that felt so plump and juicy in the moment, shrivel.
Our approach addresses the problem of deferred writing by supporting student voice through composing in the writing conference. To channel students' powerful ideas and serve all learners equitably, we argue for parallel writing conferences coupled with dialogic writing assessment methods. This approach supports students to write in the moment, even within the time constraints of classrooms. In this article, we describe dialogic writing assessment with a "present" orientation (Taylor 317). We then look at this stance in action through small-group parallel writing conferences and show how a teacher can support multiple students sequentially and strengthen their voices in the moment. Finally, we present key tips we learned from our failures and successes in engineering this more humanizing pedagogy.
CONSIDERING WRITING CONFERENCES
Popularized by Calkins and Atwell and supported by the National Writing Project and NCTE, writing conferences are a long-revered pedagogy. Calkins explains: "If a conference is going well, the child's energy for writing increases. The child should leave the conference wanting to write" (234). She assumes writing largely happens after and outside the conference. The structure of high school does not support this model. Even if students want to write, the bell may ring signaling their next class. After classes, Mom may text to remind them to pick up their sibling. Later...