During collaborative conferences, teachers observe a lesson or conference and provide explicit feedback on the teaching and learning interaction. Collaborative conferences use a team approach (with two or more teachers) to support student learning. During the pre-conference, the student's teacher identifies the instructional goal and asks the observing teachers to notice specific writing behaviors. After the lesson, the teachers engage in purposeful dialogue that aligns with the observation focus. This Close-Up features three conferences:

a cluster conference in which a third-grade team observes a colleague during a writing conference with a student; a coaching conference involving a fourth-grade teacher and a literacy coach, who also serves as an intervention specialist for the student; an intervention conference in which a third-grade teacher and language specialist discuss the revising process of a student served by both teachers.Collaborative conferences allow teachers to pool their knowledge and engage in focused dialogues for improving their students' writing.

About the Authors

Linda Dorn is a professor of reading education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she is the director of the UALR Center for Literacy. She teaches graduate classes in literacy theory, research, classroom practice, and literacy leadership.

Carla is a literacy specialist with the Arkansas Department of Education. She has twenty-one years of experience in education, including teaching in the primary grades and Literacy Coaching.