Page 88 - ABCTE Study Guide_Neat

Dialogue Journal

A dialogue journal is a notebook or journal kept by two people, usually a student and their teacher. Each
party writes entries that are either related to a given topic or are responses from a designated reading.
The journal is exchanged after each entry is completed.
When assigning a dialogue journal, it’s important to be creative. Adapt each activity to the learner's needs.
Emphasize to your students that reading and writing fluency is important, that spelling and handwriting are
critical because writing, after all, is simply a way of communicating ideas.

The benefits of assigning a dialogue journal include:

• Students have the opportunity to have their written questions answered by the teacher
• The journal creates an opportunity for the student to ask questions that help clarify his or her thinking
and/or stimulate ideas
• The teacher has the opportunity to get to know the student, as well as his or her language and culture
• The journal can be used as a record of a student’s progress

Conference Writing

Conference writing is an activity that encourages writers to discuss and share their work with an individual
or group.

The steps for conference writing are short and easy to follow. First, have each student select a topic to
write about. Second, discuss the selected topic with the writer. And finally, have each writer or group start
off by writing a rough draft. Now, this sounds like any other kind of writing, but in this activity, the writers
are encouraged to express their thoughts and ideas freely, without fear of having to follow any writing
rules.

Here are some guidelines to follow when you use conference writing:

1. Do not correct spelling errors or general surface structure details during conferencing.
2. Create a supportive environment, not a competitive one.
3. Resist directing changes that will take ownership away from the writer.
4. Respond first to the message and content before moving on to any teaching points.

Here are a few other ways to vary the group:

• Have student writers read their stories to the group instead of discussing them with the teacher.

• Have the group members help writers discover things they may want to change.

• Instruct each student writer to write a second draft, making the additions and corrections that were
discussed in conference with their group.

• Arrange another private or group conference with each writer.

At the end of the activity, distribute the final drafts around the group and encourage the class to read all of
the newly written stories.

Guided Writing

Guided writing is an individual or group activity where students use word maps to organize their ideas
before writing.