I neglected to discuss how the afternoon one-on-one conferencing session with the students went, so I am going to do it now.
After I taught my first lesson, Wynne decided that conducting one-on-one conferences with each student would be beneficial. I agreed with her because it would allow the students to look at their writing as it relates to the lesson taught about capitalization, commas, and transitional phrases. We decided to split the afternoon session into two groups: the first section would review the math quiz from the previous week and the second section would do one-on-one conferences. We were going to take turns doing this, but I wasn't comfortable leading out in the math section. In the end, I focused on the one-on-one essay conferences with the students.
I found the experience to be very fulfilling because it reminded me of the pleasures of tutoring. Each student had a different issue with their essay. I began each session by asking students to tell me what their thesis statement is. Some were able to clearly and concisely explain their ideas while others struggled. In most instances, the ones who could explain their thesis had the "better" essays. After this, I read each essay aloud with each student. I used this tactic to help them edit their papers and identify where things were unclear and where they could improve the overall structure or transition. I thought the students I worked with found this the most helpful based on their reactions to my reading their essays aloud. I advised them to do the same after writing an essay to ensure they are clearly supporting the thesis statement.
One thing I could have improved during the one-on-one process was my overall efficiency with each student. In 45-60 minutes, I was only able to meet with approximately 5 students. I planned on spending 10 minutes with each student, but ending up spending about 20 minutes with each. I learned from this experience that I need to strive more to stick with alloted time as to not prevent other students from being assisted.
One thing that might help with the short amount of time you had to talk with each student is to: 1) plan one question or topic that you want to discuss about each writer's essay. 2) Spread the sessions over two afternoons. 3) Tell the whole class that you plan to focus on topic (x) during one on one sessions, then ask them to come up with one question or comment related to it (in writing) before they meet with you.
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