Strategies for Holding Productive Student Conferences

Goss, M.

When educators discuss teaching practices, we often focus our attention on what occurs in the classroom. That is, what we can accomplish with our students in the 50-80 minutes of a class period. However, activities outside the classroom – such as conferences with students – are an important aspect of teaching (whether it be office hours or scheduled meetings to discuss student’s work in progress). Yet, students sometimes struggle to properly prepare for meetings or communicate their needs, leaving instructors feeling frustrated and over-burdened. This lightning roundtable will explore how to make individual and group conferences more productive for both teachers and students. The speaker, who teaches undergraduate writing courses, will share specific strategies for organizing and facilitating individual and group conferences, including establishing clear expectations, promoting accountability for student’s work, and developing a clear plan for future action. Participants will leave with a range of low and high stakes strategies they could implement in their own teaching contexts.

Maggie Goss, English