TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: THE POWER OF THE PEER CONFERENCE IN AN EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOM

Courtney SmithEP Todd SchoolPrimary Montessori TeacherJune 2013

PEER CONFERENCING ROADBLOCKS Do you use peer conferencing in your

classroom? How do you use peer conferencing? What is going well in your classroom? What are your struggles?

THE WHY

“Readers need a quiet place to write and think.”

–Mrs. O’Connor

“Without lots of talk, your workshop will fall apart.”

-Isoke NiaThe Writing Workshop by

Katie Wood Ray and Lester L. Laminack

What I Used to Think My New Thinking

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY “By keeping an audience in mind and

participating in focused peer review interactions, students can offer productive feedback, accept constructive criticism, and master revision…Peer review facilitates the type of social interaction and collaboration that is vital for student learning.”

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY “For a while now, children have tried to write in

such a way that we can read their writing. Now we’ll ask them to write in such a way that their peers can read what they’ve written. This is a big step. It’s easier for an adult to use the information a child gives and to infer what the child was trying to say than it is for another child to do these things. Asking children to read each other’s writing may leave some children feeling dejected that their classmates can’t read their writing. But there are tremendous gains to be had from nudging children to write so their classmates can read their writing.”

-Lucy Calkins and Natalie Louis, Writing for Readers: Teaching Skills and Strategies

COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative

conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.2 Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.3 Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.4 Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.6 Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

THE END IN MIND Two Goals

Children will understand that there is an audience for their writing

Children will be able to talk about writing in ways that will aid their reading comprehension skills

THE END IN MIND

PROCESS OF GETTING TO THE END Beginning with the Familiar

Focusing on the content, students will conference about the content of a picture

PROCESS OF GETTING TO THE END Beginning with the Familiar

Students will move from pictures to texts. Students will be able to focus on content and conventions with texts.

Sticky Note Conferences “Elbow to Elbow” or “Knee to Knee”

PROCESS OF GETTING TO THE END Getting Personal with Pictures

PROCESS OF GETTING TO THE END Moving Forward with Kid Writing

Content vs. Conventions

3 Steps to a Peer Conference1. T: Tell something you like

2. A: Ask a question3. G: Give a suggestion

T: TELL SOMETHING YOU LIKE Be Positive! Compliment Starters

I liked how you… My favorite part was _____ because… This was fun to read _____ because… You did a great job…

A: ASK A QUESTION Does the writing make sense? Questions to Consider

Are there details you want to know more about?

G: GIVE A SUGGESTION Be Specific Areas to Give Suggestions About

Illustrations and Text Conventions Word Choice Organization and Structure Details

www.littlepriorities.blogspot.com

IN THE CLASSROOM“For me as a teacher, share time

really gets at a value that is bigger than writing itself. It’s a value I have about learning communities, and a writing workshop is a learning community. It is a place that I create where we learn together and where we support each other in that learning in important ways.”

-The Writing Workshop by Katie Wood Ray and Lester L. Laminack

IN THE CLASSROOMWhat will peer conferencing look like in your classroom next year?

RESOURCESCalkins, Lucy, and Natalie Louis. Writing for Readers:

Teaching Skills and Strategies. Portsmouth, NH: FirstHand, 2003. Print.

"Implementing the Writing Process." Read Write Think. International Reading Association, n.d. Web. 8 June 2013.

Moldenhauer, Lori. ""Thesaurus Thursday"" Little Priorities. N.p., 11 Oct. 2012. Web. 8 June 2013.

Raczka, Bob, and Chad Cameron. Fall Mixed up. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda, 2011. Print.

Ray, Katie Wood, and Lester L. Laminack. The Writing Workshop: Working through the Hard Parts (and They're All Hard Parts). Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2001. Print.

"Speaking and Listening Standards." Common Core State Standards Initiative. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2013.