Ruth Shagoury

Anna is a five-year-old student in an Oregon kindergarten classroom who speaks Vietnamese at home. In this conference with Ruth Shagoury, she shares writing about her classmates and a snake, testing out her growing knowledge of the alphabet, sounds, and the purposes of writing.

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Reflection Questions

• How does Ruth build upon Anna's past work to nudge her into new writing?
• What parts of the conference are review of past writing and conferring?
• What questions does Ruth ask Anna?

This video is an excerpt from the DVD workshop package Write from the Start: Conferring with Young English Language Learners which will is available for purchase for use in professional development settings. For more information and to preview a free sample of the video, click here.

For tips on conferring with any student, click here.

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·  Conferring in the Zone: Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Writing Conferences ·  In the Zone: Conferring with a Young English Language Learner (VIDEO) ·  Every Language Counts: Adding Multilingual Counting Activities to Morning Meeting (VIDEO) ·  Letters from Home: Letting Families and Friends Teach Us ·  Family Dichos: Bringing the Language of Home into the Classroom ·  Mini-Lessons to Start Conversations with Students About Books ·  Conferring with a Child in the "Silent Period" (VIDEO) ·  Write from the Start: Conferring with Young English Language Learners [DVD Workshop Kit] ·  Mix It Up: Helping Young Writers Learn to Confer with Peers and Teachers ·  The Art of Listening in Writing Conferences with English Language Learners ·  Writing Conference Principles