Using Conferences to Differentiate

Look inside almost any classroom today and you’ll see a mirror of our country. You’ll find students from multiple cultures, some of whom are trying to bridge the languages and behaviors of two worlds. Students with very advanced learning skills sit next to students who struggle mightily with one or more school subjects. Children with vast reservoirs of background experience share space with peers whose world is circumscribed by the few blocks of their neighborhood.  (Carol Ann Tomlinson and Susan Demirsky Allan)

How can we begin to meet the needs of these diverse populations in our classrooms?  We suggest trying teacher led conferences.  These one-on-one conversations are short, have a predictable structure, and leave the student and you with more information than when you started.

First you have to decide what you think the student needs help with the most.  This information comes from talking to the student, looking at written work, and/or reviewing notes you’ve previously taken.  For example, in talking with your student, Julie, you may realize she doesn’t understand that one sentence must connect with the previous one in her writing.  This is what you focus on in your conference.  You look at Carlo’s last written assignment, and it shows he doesn’t understand how to use verbs to create excitement in his writing.  This is what you talk about with him.  When you look at the notes you took on Jamaya, you see she already has the concept of point of view, so you introduce her to author’s voice.

In these examples you have taken each child where he is and moved him to the next point along the continuum.  This is crucial.  Julie isn’t concentrating on author’s voice when she needs to learn how to create a meaningful paragraph.  Likewise Jamaya isn’t trying out how to make one sentence relate to the previous one.  This is differentiation.

When you sit with a student to confer, you begin by listening to what she has to say about her work.  You look at her work.  Then you tell her what you are going to teach her in the next few minutes.  “Lindsey, I see you have begun expanding ideas in your writing.  That’s great!  Today, I’m going to show you how to choose the most important ideas to tell more about.”  Next provide examples from your work, a well known book, or the student’s previous writing.

After you have given examples of what the writer needs to do and shown how to go about doing it, ask the writer to try out the strategy.  If Stevos needs to add dialogue to create more excitement in his story, then you ask him to find a place in his work where he thinks it would fit and add it.  Then have him read it to you.

You end a conference by reminding the student what you taught/she learned.  Also, you tell her you want her to continue to try the strategy from this point on.  It’s important to note that these are short (5-7 minutes) teaching gems.  You are providing instruction and guided practice time.  You are not expecting mastery!  Learning new skills and strategies take time even if it has been taught one-on-one.

Differentiation in the classroom means modifying instruction to meet the needs of all students.  It means changing the focus from teaching subject matter to teaching students.  Holding individual conferences with students is one way to differentiate and grow all learners.