Atewell: Conferences about Content and Craft

On pages 226-229, there are questions listed to help assist with a one-on-one writing conference. As I experienced these conferences during my junior year of high school, I feel that these conferences allow students to grow as writers and as proofreaders much better than peer editing. During peer editing exercises, students are forced to read a piece of work for which they may have no invested interest and decide what type of grade it would earn. However, as the person who designs the rubric, the educator can provide better insight into the editing process.

This section stuck out to me because the questions provided are great ways to help students take ownership of the writing process. By asking leading questions such as "What else do you know about this topic? How could you find out more?" By asking students what their paper needs to be a better piece of work, educators are enabling writers who are able to to answer any type of prompt by writing with critical thinking skills. By actively teaching students how to judge their own writing, they will be able to succeed at the most rigorous of writing assignments by thinking critically, Thus, by hosting one-on-one conferences, educators can enable students to think like and grow as writers.