Communicators:

Written communication is among the most important skills for success in college and the workplace. Writing conferences help students develop their skills by focusing on their individual needs. Additionally, students engage in communication with adult mentors when meeting with English teachers. Through these experiences, students learn to become confident communicators and self-advocates who take ownership of their learning.

Collaborators:

Writing conferences are inherently collaborative. Students engage in requesting and receiving feedback as they move toward their learning goals. Students and teachers work together to create and refine writing pieces as well as to improve critical thinking, reading, and writing skills.

Critical Thinkers:

Writing is one’s thinking made explicit, so it follows that writing IS a form of critical thinking. During writing conferences, teachers are able to meet individual students where they are in their critical thinking process and help them grow in their analytic reasoning. The learner develops essential skills that transfer to other assignments and activities, not only in English class, but in future college and professional work.

Goal-directed, Resilient Learners:

One of the most important components of a student’s culminating English portfolio is the reflective work the student composes. These reflective pieces demonstrate metacognitive awareness or, more simply, students’ understanding of their strengths and weaknesses as learners. The reflection process includes setting goals for future improvement. Essential to this work is the writing conference, during which students discuss and process patterns in their work and set appropriate goals to develop excellence in writing and critical thinking. (See section five, Writing Conferences, Student Outcomes, and the Portfolio.)