1. Peer Conferencing Carol Bedard, Ph.D. Greater Houston Area Writing Project

2. John Dewey is reported to have said when asked to sum up all he had learned, “Democracy begins in conversation.” (Lamont, 1959, 58).

3. Trouble in Paradise Movers and shakers Cruisers Buts

4. Research It is not enough for teachers to provide opportunities for collaborative interaction; they must also model how to interact effectively and be aware of social relationships which effect collaborative work. Dawes, Mercer, & Wegerif (2000)

5. Mini-Lessons Awareness of how people talk General questions Example: Do you know anyone who is easy to talk to---can you say why? Questions on using talk Example: Why is talking a useful skill? Questions on communicating Examples: What happens when people talk but others don’t listen? What are the differences between talking and listening?

6. Mini-Lessons Practice taking turns in talk. Ask relevant questions. Decide on a shared set of ground rules for talk. Practice using all the ground rules to reach decisions and problem solve.

7. Group Talk Rules Everyone should contribute evenly. Don’t get side tracked. Stay on task. Critique work, not people. Use other people’s ideas; don’t always use just your own ideas. Consensus is not necessary.

8. Research For successful collaboration to take place, students need to be taught how to collaborate so that they have a clear idea of what is expected of them. Barnes and Todd (1977) suggest that classroom discussion has to meet certain requirements for explicitness which would not normally be required in everyday discourse.

9. Exploratory Talk Talk in which partners engage critically but constructively with each other’s ideas. Statements and suggestions are offered for joint consideration. These may be challenged and counter- challenged, but challenges are justified and alternative hypotheses are offered. (Mercer, 1995. Guided construction of knowledge: Talk amongst teachers and learners. New York: Multilingual Matters, Ltd.)

10. Student Reactions to Talk Lessons Talk Lessons teach students how to work in a group. Talk Lessons teach you to give reasons. Talk Lessons teach you to stay on task. Talk Lessons expose students to differences. Talk Lessons are fun!

11. Findings Students learned to talk in an exploratory manner (students supported their ideas with facts/suggestions and challenged the ideas of others) The optimal grouping had mixed-gender members with similar academic abilities

12. Findings Group members expanded their problem-solving skills. Luke: “At the beginning of the year one person would say something and the rest of the people hid their ideas so we wrote whatever came first. Everybody also just said something, but it was never discussed or disagreed with. Now we give reasons for what we say, discuss everything, and share all ideas.” (January 12, 2004, Written Reflection)

13. Findings Students learned the importance of each member’s contributions, learned to value differences, and learned to stay on task. Groups that remained together for the entire year developed positive working relationships and benefited from knowing each group member’s strengths, weaknesses, and operating styles.

14. Considerations Grouping “A successful community is one in which the group members share aesthetic, material and intellectual interests.” Dewey (1916/1966)

15. Considerations Incentives “The combination of group rewards based on group members’ individual learning and peer interaction on learning tasks is necessary to produce learning gains.” Slavin (1987)

16. Types of Conferences (Peter Elbow, Writing With Power, 1981) Reader-Based Feedback 1. Feedback focuses on the reader’s reactions 2. Does not require pre-requisite knowledge 3. Types of feedback: *clarifications * new ideas * elaborations * vocabulary * title suggestions * add/cut information * structure

17. Criterion Based Feedback 1. Feedback judges or evaluates one’s work against a certain criteria. 2. Requires technical knowledge.

18. Freedom and Diversity Each writing group develops a distinctive manner of approaching tasks.

19. References Barnes, D. & Todd, F. (1977). Communication and learning in small groups. Boston: Routledge & K. Paul. Dawes, L. Mercer, N., Wegerif, R. (2000). Thinking together: A programme of activities for developing thinking skills at KS2. Birmingham: The Questions Publishing Company, LTD. Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education. New York: Free Press. (Original work published in 1916). Elbow, P. (1981). Writing with power: Techniques for mastering the writing process. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. (Mercer, 1995. Guided construction of knowledge: Talk amongst teachers and learners. New York: Multilingual Matters, Ltd.) Slavin, R.E. (1987). Cooperative learning: Where behavioral and humanistic approaches to classroom motivation meet. Elementary School Journal, 88, 29-37.