En Medias Res...

In Nancie Atwell's book In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning, I found the emphasis on teacher-individual student conferences very interesting. Atwell writes: "Conferences with individuals are more important...[t]eachers should invest their energies in conferring." As a student, especially in high school, but even now in college, I find that I really value when the teacher offers the time for individual consultation. The idea that someone who has other students and responsibilities has taken out the time for me is a great symbol of the dedication they have for my education.
However, my initial interpretation of what a teacher-student conference would entail does not quite match up with what Atwell suggests. I thought that both the teacher and the student would go over the writing together, but Atwell suggests that the conferences should be "short," that teachers should not "write on students' writing" and that teachers should not "look at or read students' writing during the conferences." What Atwell's idea for a conference seems to suggest is that the focus should not be on the teacher's evaluation of the work, but of the student's own evaluation of his or her work. This responsibility shift is not only somewhat relieving as a future teacher, but even more so as a current student. To be heard in the classroom when one is a student is an important thing, and Atwell's idea for conferences seems to allow that.
I also like the "Rules for a Workshop" section in Atwell's book. My favorite thing about it is the advice to throw nothing away. As a person who enjoys writing, I am one of those people who is constantly writing little blips of story lines and ideas that run through my head. While most of the time they are just random files saved on my computer or scattered pages in my notebook, every once in a while they come in handy for a plot twist to something I am in the process of writing or as a springboard to get me started. So I completely agree with Atwell when she says" Save everything...you never know when or where you might want to use it."